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diversant32914 days ago(+1)

Great game, cool idea! I really love it.

However, I have a couple of comments:

  1. No logical end or feedback: I tried to heal several people, then just clicked randomly to cover as many people as possible, but I didn't notice any results. Did I win? Did I lose? What actually happened to the people? I don't feel any progression or the impact of my actions, and I can't see the ending. How is the game loop supposed to close? (Unless I am missing some part of the gameplay).
  2. Text mismatches: Not everything in the book matches the menu options exactly. For example, "Kiss of Lady Noon" seems to be called something else in the decision-making menu.
  3. Wall of text with no highlights: While the dense text is thematically cool, I envision doctors being more organized. Highlighting key terms (with a pen line, bold text, or color) for symptoms and treatments would help a lot. The treatment guide could even be a separate section on the page. If the text were well-structured and followed the same template for each disease, players could scan it much faster, which would greatly improve the experience. Alternatively, it would be awesome if players could highlight or select key words themselves.
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diversant32914 days ago(+1)

Got it. You do show the results, but they disappear too fast.

I would make them stay on screen a bit longer and maybe color-code the text. For example, green for success and red for failure. Again, this would just help players scan the results quickly and make it feel more like a game rather than a real job. :D

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Orangudan13 days ago(+1)

Thanks for the in-depth feedback - it really is appreciated and i'm taking it all onboard. Regarding point 1) There is an end, after patient 15 there is a decision point and a resolution, with different options available to you based on trust that you have built with the village through how many patients you successfully treated. However, you are right, it is clear through the feedback i'm getting that the majority of players are not seeing the feedback because it is shown too rapidly.  Plus I think it would be useful to show some sort of progression, so that the players knows how many patients are left. 

2) I was aware of the text mismatch and thought it might be a nice obfuscation to increase the challenge slightly. Balancing the difficulty of these types of word based comprehension puzzle games is a tricky task. On the other hand I am getting consistent feedback that this might just be interpreted as a mistake rather than intentional.

3) I hear you on the wall of text, colour highlights, player highlights, or underlining are reasonable options. I also intended to mitigate the wall of text with images of the treatments as well visual images of the symptoms. Someone else suggested a table of symptoms and treatments, which while it would organise the information, feels like it would make the puzzle part too easy. Definitely something to think about. 

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diversant32913 days ago(+1)

As a creator of another puzzle game - I definitely feel your pains: How to do it better but not too simple) 
I can only say - just give a try to some ideas, ask someone to test it and make conclusions. You may have different opinion because you built it, but gamers may love what you dont love in your game and opposite.

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