This is impressively polished. I think I would have preferred it as just a cosy chore simulator without the wasps. Or to have that element of danger more integrated, I think it could be good either way but in this version the fights felt jarring and a bit tacked on.
Viewing post in Scunthorpe Scavenger jam comments
Thank you for the feedback! We see the combat as a core feature since it's the upgrading of weapons to survive the increasingly difficult nights that gives the money and materials in the game a purpose, however we did consider adding a peaceful mode and it's very interesting that you've suggested it. Much appreciated!
That makes sense. I'm always interested in non-abstract games that find ways to develop purpose without violence. But running around shooting stuff is fun too.
This may or may not be useful feedback since it's about totally subjective preferences but here it is anyway: Stress ramp mechanisms make me, you know, stressed. So the increasingly horrible swarms of wasps isn't really a thing I enjoy. I do like the exploration/dungeon crawl structure where difficulty ramps the further you go from home but home is always safe so long as you can get back. I can imagine a game where the farm economy -> upgrades mechanism is used to allow trips deeper and deeper into the hinterlands to collect more valuable seeds or capture rarer animals or something. But that starts to be a completely different game...
All that is mostly to say, your game has me sitting here still thinking about it a couple of hours later so thumbs up to you.
I love this feedback, and I think I agree with you - if we had a lot more time to think and consider, we probably could have come up with something similar that is violence free, but still depends on the gathering money to progress and keeping the overall chaos of the game. In the end, Scunthorpe Scavenger was originally meant to be a chaotic farming game where there is always something to be thinking about, and we chose to implement the ramping fight as a way to progress each day. If it's not your style, then that's totally cool, "stress" games aren't for everyone!
Either way, thank you for your feedback and consideration, it is seriously appreciated.