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(2 edits)

This is an excellent take on the theme, there have been a number of entries using particle spin, but I think this has kept me engaged the longest.

For context, I pretty much never play puzzle games; but I really want to try and finish every game I play. However I could not for the life of me figure out the last level, to the point of a substantial amount of frustration such that I've had to put the game down. Ordinarily I don't think I'd care too much, however with there being a narrative element, it feels terrible! I'm not sure there's anything to be done with this piece of feedback, because making the game easier would hurt the people who are into puzzle games. I so suspect my frustration is primarily borne out of not being the target demographic.

Right, with that out of the way. The graphics are good and certainly fit into the terminal style you were going for. The audio also fit very well and create a nice atmosphere. I would have liked an option to turn off the CRT shader. I find them to be a bit like marmite and start to hurt my eyes after a while. Not a biggie for a jam game, but it is nice to always have the option when it's a disruptive screen-space effect like that.

The tutorialisation was excellent, and I particularly liked how you interwove it with the lore, so it really didn't feel like a tutorial to the player.

For your first game it's really great, you've nailed the theme and really come up with a creative idea and executed it brilliantly. I think you can be really proud of what you've put together here, and from what I can see from the puzzler fans, it's gone down a treat! Well done.

(+1)

This is some of the most helpful feedback I have gotten! As much as I dislike negative feedback, I also love it because I feel it points out what I did wrong with my game and will make me a stronger developer in the future. As for this comment what I learned was that I put all of my time into bug fixing but I should have spent a little bit of time trying to make player accessibility features such as turning off the crt in settings or making my text easier to read. (Although I had no bugs reports and couldn't find any while playtesting so that's a mini win.)

For the last level feedback, it is a bit harder than this since I feel puzzle games are received so differently from all players. However, with the issue being in the last level I did try and think of a solution that could help. Since my final level has two puzzles, I could end up making one of the puzzles a bit easier so hopefully everyone should be able to beat it with it still feeling challenging (easier said than done lol). Then if people really care, there will still be the other puzzle waiting for them if they want to tackle it. This way if the player can get an ending it still feels like a win. 

I'm really sorry that the last level was frustrating. If you happen to remember, do you know which side you were trying to solve or did you give an attempt at both? 

I thank you so much for playing my game! This feedback really means a lot to me since it shows me areas in which I can grow as a developer and I think that is priceless. And I am really proud of how this game turned out. Even though it is not perfect, is any game really? Again, thank you so much for taking time to play my game and leave this helpful comment. It truly means a lot to me. 

(1 edit)

Firstly I want to say that you really have nothing to apologise for. Like you say, puzzle games are a tricky one and i'm certainly not a 'puzzler' so there's a very good chance that this is a me issue and not a you issue! 

The CRT thing is really minor, but just a thought I had as I have entered some more retro jams and it usually involves trying to recreate older systems, so I come across those shaders often! It's not a big deal and a super easy fix / addition if you use a similar effect in the future and feel it might affect readability or accessibility.

I was going for the right hand side of the board as that was I think the ending I wanted? But honestly don't sweat it if I'm an outlier on the difficulty, I wanted to give you an honest appraisal of my feelings, but I don't believe it's actually a negative part of your game.

I really do think you should be very proud, it's an excellent game, just not something I'm all that good at haha.