I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 9.5

I love game loops like this, and the dev proves once again why they're so good at them. It was a cute story that didn't overstay its welcome (although I wish there were more save prompts to help you easily go back and try different choices, though that is probably more my fault for not saving often). I love the fact that there's so much game in such a short time as well, with multiple endings, even! I got a bad one, but I really enjoyed the journey.

Mayor On The run

by SeaPhoenix

Hey there SeaPhoenix, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I'm Drifty and I was asked to judge your game in round four of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The title screen music that you've picked is very pleasant and inviting.

I really like the zoomed out look of the maps. Good resolution choice for this.

I really like the mechanics in this game and I especially appreciate how you respect the player's time with the menus. The carpenter and painter have the preferences saved from your diary and it makes it super easy to upgrade peoples' houses. Good call.

I love the idea of this type of game and it was honestly a breath of fresh air. It's super fun seeing your town progress each day and there's plenty of room for replay-ability. 

I ended up getting arrested after the first week and I'm pretty sure that's the bad ending. I'm curious to see how many endings there are. I probably wasted a couple days not knowing I had to pay the carpenter to build new houses. Maybe add in some analytics or stats that show after the game ends to give the player an idea of what they did or did not do, or even which ending they got, of how many endings there are, etc.

I wish the game was longer, but I understand the limitations of a game jam. That being said, I had a blast and really enjoyed this entry. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the next thing you put out.

-Drifty

Hey there SeaPhoenix, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. As a fan of sims I was looking forward to this game, and it didn't disappoint! The art and music worked well with the gameplay, and the story itself was fun. The comedic writing was great, and I'm gonna need a whole game about a rat circus with rat pyramids now! You clearly spent a lot of time polishing this game, and that effort shows.

My main problem with the game was the length. I know that it was to make sure people could finish the game in the time limit, but a week didn't feel long enough since I wanted to see more interactions between the mayor and the villagers. Even just a few more days so I was there for 10 days instead of just a week would have been fun. I also wish there were more options for items to give to the farmer, so that he could start growing some strange things like mandrakes or man-eating plants instead of normal veggies. But those are just nitpicks, I know there was a deadline and I had a lot of fun with the game as-is.

Overall, this is a short and silly game that has a lot of potential if you feel like expanding on it. :)

Simple and enjoyable sim game with a lot of heart! I actually played this thinking "wow this reminds me a lot of that other IGMC game a few years ago" and didn't realize you also developed this one!

I got this game for round 2 of judging, congrats on getting to round 2! Here are my thoughts.

Overall I found this a very enjoyable game. The choices were flat out silly sometimes. I decided to go with the rat circus because why not? Plus...rat pyramid! 

I really couldn't find any negative to the game or suggestions for improvement to mention except I wish I had more time than the time I did to work on the village, though understand why the time limit is as it is due to the story. 

Overall though this was a fun game. I hope you make a longer village management sim someday, as I'd love to play it.

Okay finally getting around to rating some of the entries I have played. I really loved this one. I think this is the first game so far that I've rated 5 stars. I might be biased as I love management sims though, haha! Honestly this game I felt really hit all the checkmarks. The graphics were great, The UI was clean, and the music was incredibly relaxing. This game had IMO the best use of assets I have played so far. Everything blended so well. The gameplay was simple to understand, the font was easy to read, and the story was short and sweet and to the point.

I really cannot say anything negative about this game. It's honestly perfect in every way in terms of a game jam project. Overall this is a solid entry and definitely one to watch. You deserve way more ratings than you have.

If you get a chance and you haven't already, feel free to try FrameWork. Legends Untamed, my second entry that displays here, is not my main one.

You should feel very proud. Seriously, thank you so much for making this. 

:)

Hey SeaPhoenix! Guess what! I liked your game, again! XD I don’t know but the style of stuff you do (or at least the one I played for the old IGMC) really matched my taste, and this, no surprise, was the same.

• +Presentation is clean and neat. Only some minor niggles on the map collision and ease of access, or some areas being a bit messy with trees.
• +Writing and scenes were charming but quick, not dwelling too much.
• +The mechanic of simple item trade was effective but also relaxing, since it was very casual.
• +The replay value is nice! So far I got one ending but I’m sure there are more (I became a dragoon and I’m a bit upset they did not let ME go fight the thing XD)
• -The transfer between the upper and lower map should be the entire edge, not just the road. That got a bit silly.
• -Some items were a bit hard to see, but the worst by far was the beans. Even when the carpenter TOLD me he had seen them, I did not see them in the vines at all. It’s good that Npcs will tell you about it later, but that one specially was awkward.
• -Adding some kind of number to each ending would help with collecting them (such as ending 1/5 <arrested> etc)
• -The story is obviously very lighthearted and silly, but I do feel some small scenes are missing, such as they giving a bit more of an excuse as to why they appoint you so quickly, or giving each character a smidge more to do. This is all of course NOT considering a tight deadline and more for a polish phase, for a short and cramped deadline, what is there is fine.
• -I was a bit upset that not a single soul mentioned how everyone in the village was a god damn time wizard /jk

 Tl;DR I liked it, it’s my jam, and the snappy and casual nature of it is right in my zone. 5 stars. Great job.