A very unique entry, lol.
Feedback/Critique: I won’t repeat what’s already been said, ditto on music.
- Gameplay/Onboarding: I think onboarding was one of the weakest points of the game. It took me several failed contracts before I realized that I had to drag and drop the items into the bag instead of clicking on them, and a few more before I really understood that I needed loot + the special object for a complete contract. I didn’t quite understand what the noise mechanic was supposed to do either, given that my early failures generated a lot of noise, but did not result in any penalties or consequences. Same with the heat bar - I assume that the noise and heat are linked? All that said, once I got the hang of the game’s loop, it did turn into a fun puzzle, so the core is definitely there!
- Graphics: Another ding here - the overall graphics that you picked weren’t bad, but it definitely didn’t feel complete. I’ll point to the objects that were depicted as their grid filling area rather than any 2D object as part of this. Also a black background with nothing else - the game feel very prototype-y. Finally, the value of items on top of the objects made some values hard to read (rings were the big ones that I’m thinking about here) - it may have been better to offset the value so that it was just below/above the object.
- UI: First off, props on the splash. That is smooth, and I hope to see you use this in future games. Unfortunately, getting to game itself, I feel like the UI was forgotten about entirely. There is no way to pause, no credits, no sound settings, etc.
I think that you’re the first entry that I’ve seen where I get to give feedback for someone who’s done two of these game jams! So let me give you some additional feedback looking back on your first entry and comparing it to this one:
I can’t prove that you changed engines, but did you change engines? Lol. It seems like you might have. I see from your game’s page that you state you ran into design problems straight away after getting the core loop down, so I am guessing that either the challenges were due to a new engine, or same old engine but having to figure out how to implement your vision. One of the things I recommend doing is in the planning phases of your game, enumerating how you want things to look, and then tying together everything that you have written to how you might do it in engine. If you’d like, contact me, and we can set up a consultation, maybe I can give you a few pointers on your process. Based on your work so far, I think that you have a strong vision for game design, and adjusting your workflow will take you to the next level.
Overall, well done. Keep making games, I want to see future entries!