Just before playing this game I commented to another game that it is the best game I've played in this jam so far. That did last long... This is definitely the best game in this jam I have played so far!
Everything in this game feels good. Unlike most other jam games it feels super polished. It feels a "real game", not just a jam game or prototype. I played this game so much longer than I should have because if was really engaging!
I would be interested to know how many persons there were in the team and how experienced you are? It cannot be easy to make this good game in this short time.
Here are some specific comments of what I enjoyed about the game:
- The tutorial: gameplay is clearly understandable by only seeing the tutorial. There was no instructions on the game page how to play the game, all relevant information is there in the game and the player is reminded of them when starting a new game.
- The atmosphere: I like a lot both the visuals and the music of the game. There was a lot of different items to find and everything looked nice and interesting. The music built a really good atmosphere for the game.
- Combination of tactics and skill: I enjoyed how the game had some strategical elements regarding in which order to dig the treasure pieces, which upgrades to by and how far from the ship the player should go. Walking around takes time but throwing treasures to the ship from too far is a big risk.
- The Magnet: The fact that the magnet force can be controlled during the whole path introduced a lot more ways to think the game tactically as I was able to "dig" around worthless objects to get to the good treasures more quickly. The magnet animations also looked really nice. How did you managed to accomplish this by the way?
- THE THING!: I don't want to spoil it for those who have not yet played because The Thing is something that needs to be experienced. I know (or hope?) the developers will understand what I'm referencing with this. The first time The Thing happened was just before time was running out and I only got to see a glance. I played 2-3 extra games just trying to get it to happen again. The effects were so cool and overall that moment was the single most memorable part of the game. I also really like the added strategy value that the game has after finding the existence of The Thing.
After all the positive feedback I'm glad that I'm able also able to provide two (minor) points of constructive criticism:
- It is a bit annoying that the music is paused for a few seconds when starting/restarting the game. It's not a big issue but in contrast to everything else it's popping up.
- Also, consider adding a global leaderboard. I would like to compete with others. That would probably also motivate the players to play more. (Unless if you think that there is too strict maximum possible score available. I did not even beat the 1500 limit so I don't know how far the results can be improved but I would suspect that in this kind of game there is some hard limit.)
Excellent game! Fully recommend for everyone to try!
If you have time at some point, I would be really happy if you would try the game I developed for this jam. I would appreciate your feedback and constructive criticism a lot.