I originally made it to level 6 before stepping away, but after writing this, I beat the game. I got 1 death and 1 hit total, so I have a pretty good grasp of the loop.
- Do I think you took the path of least resistance? Yes
- Do I think you should quit game development because of it? No, absolutely not
There is SO much dialogue, and I guarantee that for anyone who plays this game who isn’t scared away by the sheer complexity, they won’t read it. You likely haven’t read it yourself either, because it is entirely AI-generated. Even though it was AI-generated, the story doesn’t make sense in the context of this small little game. The entire game loop is you bringing white potions through portals, then escaping yourself. There is a threat in the levels, a singular ghost, who isn’t a problem at all.
To fix this, in the final level, there is a blue ghost that instantly kills you. Why are we introducing this enemy in the last level without explaining it? (It probably got explained in the story, but again, nobody will read that).
I’ll give you some feedback on the game:
- The Bottle Mechanic: The main gist of the game is to put soul bottles into portals, so I’d preferred if this mechanic was good and polished. However, the bottles follow you in a weird way. They smoothly follow you by lerping (linearly interpolating) after you. The problem is that they can get stuck on walls. I’d much more preferred it if they were either placed in my inventory, or followed me much closer.
- Unused Items: I never used any of the other items in the game. I was sprinting the whole time. That has to say something. If the other items are useless, or explained in a way the player “gets and forgets,” they won’t be used.
- Narrative Scope: The story is WAY too complicated for a small jam game like this. I have no idea what rescuing the souls did, what the portal was there for, where I was, or what was chasing me.
Things done well
- I love the main menu, it looks really clean.
- Scene transitions
- I think the art style was decent, but it feels a little like an asset-flip, as it’s kind of all over the place.
The main takeaway from this is this:
Alright, you got assisted in making the game (with the use of AI). Maybe it was your first game, your second, whatever. Instead of telling a chatbox what game you want, try to pick up a game engine (eg. Unity or Godot), and watch some tutorials. It will be way more satisfying knowing what you do, planning and coding your idea up (either entirely yourself, or assisted by AI, not “taken off your shoulders” by AI).
Good luck with your next projects, hopefully also game development projects. I believe that you are able to make beautiful games if you put in the effort.