Play game
Yarn Boss's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| How well thought out was the design of all characters involved? | #6 | 3.364 | 3.364 |
| How much fun was the Boss Fight to play? | #7 | 2.455 | 2.455 |
| Did the game include 2 distinct game genres and how well did they mash together? | #7 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Rate the Technical Complexity & Execution. | #8 | 2.909 | 2.909 |
| Was the game well polished? | #8 | 3.182 | 3.182 |
| Overall | #8 | 2.982 | 2.982 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Always been a fan of your games and art style and this one is no exception to that. The art style and weirdness that I love about your games is very well done here. Love everything about this game. Well done!
Thank you for playing Dev Pirates, and for your constant support! 🥳
How well thought out was the design of all characters involved?
Very. I love how the game starts with a cat swallowing yarn, such a good animation there and I like the little backstory it provides for how the cat becomes a yarn boss. I like the way the boss bounces around the screen damaging the blocks and the different attacks it has, which are telegraphed perfectly when it stops in mid air. The head poking out at the side before dropping the yarn looks very nice. I like the attention to detail on the player’s hair, the white flash it makes when she takes damage and the controls feel smooth.
How much fun was the Boss Fight to play?
It’s fun, especially because I managed to win! The match 3 puzzles were a highlight for me, I loved how the blocks used different yarn patterns and how it adds more types to match as the game progresses. It’s also really good how it keeps track of which matches you made on the side bars as well as in the puzzle area. I also like how the green ones add to the timer. The action phase is fairly good and I appreciated having safe zones to learn the boss's patterns. Having one way platforms would improve the movement and adding smaller yarn balls to dodge could provide an extra challenge. I also think the water should be a hazard that kills the player to raise the stakes.
Rate the Technical Complexity & Execution.
I imagine the most technical aspect was doing the match 3 game, especially with handling the combos and it works flawlessly. The physics for how the yarn boss bounces at different speeds and angles is great and I like how the reflection in the water shows the boss reflection especially when it’s close to the water even as it changes animations.
Did the game include 2 distinct game genres and how well did they mash together?
Definitely. It was crystal clear that the 2 genres were puzzle and action platformer. I really like how in the action segment you have to stay close but not too close to the danger that the yarn boss poses if you want to climb up the loose yarn strings in time. I also like that the action phase has different levels and that it shows the cat trying to get out of the yarn. Then the transition where the player climbs up is super awesome and adds a lot of polish and makes it clear that you are trying to unravel the boss, especially as you go into the puzzle phase.
Was the game well polished?
Absolutely. It's got great cutscenes. Those volume sliders at the start are amazing, labelling them as SFX, Music and Master would make it perfect imo. I like the different texts that pop up when matching 3 or 4. I like how the shadow on the boss stays in place even as the boss rotates. It’s good how the blocks have a little bounce to them when the boss bumps into them too. Finally, the cat winking at the end is a super nice touch ;)
Hello GameFavorites! Before I read and respond to your comment, wanted to say thank you so much for leaving these all around the competition! They have been a source of critical insights not only to the developers themselves (I find them SUPER useful), but also to players playing other games (as a player I find them super cool to see if your experience matches mine, as well as critically evaluate different parts of what I missed while playing, but also perhaps any areas that you have not covered that I could comment on [very rarely this happens XD]).
Finally, as a person leaving comments myself, I am more mindful of how useful such comments can be and try to mimic or at least provide some more depth than I usually do.
Here I go reading and responding to yours now!
1. Design: So happy the intro animation helps! I spent I don't know how many hours making each piece work, and being sucked in, might be of my favourite and most complex animations so far! Happy the boss feels a bit alive and the player flashing!
2. Fun Boss play: Wooohoo! So happy you figured out it was yarn patterns and that this was the whole aim! I wanted to update the big yarn ball to somehow have more patterns or vice versa with some colour, but it would be a huge mess to animate by that time...
Happy the progression bars help! I think currently, visually they don't fill completely (although they do nicely turn to their "complete" version, once their quota is met). Glad it felt nice having them refill the bar!
100% on the one way platforms! There were so many cool things I could have done on the platforming (Coyote timer for a start...) and level design (great idea with the water! initially I wanted it to trigger the boss "unraveling" or becoming heavier so the player could descent and trigger the match 3. In the end, randomly dropping the yarn-staircase was the quickest solution to try and submit on time..)
3. Technical: you are right! Spent most of my time on the Match 3 (along with the animations hehe). Also glad the physics feel nice! Really happy how it bounces around hehe. Luckily the water was simpler than I thought with a shader (still fills like magic how these things just work after following a tutorial...)
4. Genre mashing: so happy you mention about keeping distance but also close proximity to the boss feels nice! I was debating to have even each bump hurt the player, but this way I think is better, sort of "playing with fire", but also allowing players to experiment and try to touch the dropped yarn for the first time, even if they might be scared. Glad the transition helps to communicate the process! 🥳👏
5. Polish: hehe I am delighted you noticed and mentioned the shadow staying there! Had to play around with different sprites and clipping but it worked!
Thanks again for a great comment experience! Got to relive my whole development weeks!
Hey spoonsweet! It’s nice to hear that my comments are helpful and making a positive difference. Your boss intro animation is top tier for sure and is definitely something to take pride in, the time and effort you must have put in really shows! I think you made all of the right choices and while the water/weight idea is pretty interesting, climbing the yarn ropes feels very natural for a transition and feels really good to jump on. Also, that match 3 quota system is a genius idea and I’ve never seen that before in a match 3 and it works so well. Best of luck!
This was kinda confusing. I understand the match-3 mechanic, but I didn't get what the platformer part was for.
Hello Shegi_4! Thanks for the comment explaining the confusion! (unfortunately most of my games I get comments about confusion, so you explaining which part was most confusing is helpful!). I believe I cause lots of confusion by assuming things. So maybe these are some assumptions I made:
Boss monster is created by swallowing too much yarn (this was the intro animation)
Player is stuck with them in a room [now here are many assumptions indeed! No explanation on my part this is the case (other than the fact there is nowhere to go but down I guess, but then begs the question, why was the player stuck up there in the first place?) ]. So Player has to escape/fix the issue. [Why do they have to do that? Not even an assumption here, I don't even explain it seems XD]
Boss moves erratically all over the place.
Player gets to untangle the yarn by matching 3 types/pieces of yarn together [from other comments I believe this is another assumption on my part that I didn't communicate clearly].
Different levels are accessed (through boss's erratic movement, PRESUMABLY while you untangle them from the inside).
Boss monster is now cute cat.
Do you think these points help a bit? Which one in your opinion would be the one I should have communicated more clearly or the one that was missing?
Thanks again! And do let me know if there were other confusing parts so hopefully i try better in the future!
Very nice animation as always it reminded me of a hybrid of several retro games. I found it a little confusing at times but was cool and a neat experience.
hey Rico! Thanks for the support!
True for the retro! I wanted to have a bit of "Breakout" and was going to include "Pang" or "Buster Bros." game elements of shooting the ball for it to break, but thought people might be confused if it still constituted one Boss entity (also, lore wise, what happens with the cute gas cat at the end? Divides itself to freedom? I still need to think about that...)
Sorry for the confusion! It seems this will always be an area for me to improve! Please do let me know what was the most confusing thing, maybe I can try and address it in the future (mayyyybe hehe)
It was fun to bounce the yarn ball around.
Great art and music! Interesting to see the reflection effect at the bottom.
Thanks for dropping a comment Static Leap! I wanted to allow for this bumping and bouncing :D Glad it did feel fun!
I was debating to add the reflection or not, wanted to communicate descent through the levels, and now its the end, but also compromising my pixel integrity XD ... I guess I yielded
How well thought out was the design of all characters involved?
If someone new saw this, i dont think it would make any sense, i only like it because i know the story idea.
How much fun was the Boss Fight to play?
More fun to just watch its animations as it were doing its thing, but also could not linger to long or you would fail, so was okay.
Rate the Technical Complexity & Execution.
pretty simple gameplay,
Did the game include 2 distinct game genres and how well did they mash together?
Yes, platformer with a boss that persist, and match 3. Though not sure what i were doing .. rather why i were matching 3. Other then it progressed the game.
Was the game well polished?
Music, as always super good. Animations also crisp as ever.
Sidenote:
Real happy to see there is actually some gameplay in your game this time :D though was a little hard figuring out how to get to the next stage, wasent abundantly clear what you were suppose to do.
Hey CrudeForge! Thank you for the detailed feedback! Really appreciate it man! Helps me respond in kind hehe
1. Design: XD hehe glad you think so! I wanted to communicate "here is cute creature. Ate more than it should. Now monster. You disentangle it. Win". I believe you knowing the "hidden stuff" behind is a nice "lore bonus" maybe?
2. Fun boss play: glad the animations were nice!
3. Technical complexity: true, true
4. genre-mashing: Wanted to communicate the "disentanglement" of the yarn, by climbing up to it when it dropped its tentacles, and then "by matching", to sort of feel like tidying loose ends. I now see that extra steps were needed for this to be clearly communicated (just as I am typing my response hehe). Thank you!
5. Polish: Nice! Happy it reads like that! You probably noticed I didn't get time to revisit the sprites as you had suggested in the comments... :|
Sidenote: Thanks man for the constant support, advice and ideas! Glad there was a bit more game this time around. And yes, it seems I have a habit of leaving things a bit unfinished. Could have communicated the "yarn-staircase" drop as an invitation to approach more clearly for sure XD