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A jam submission

Full Metal Sergeant - DEMOView game page

Insult your recruits with no remorse!
Submitted by CarloC — 6 days, 16 hours before the deadline
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Full Metal Sergeant - DEMO's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall Fun#14.5004.500
Controls / UI#14.2504.250
Art#34.2504.250
Sound/Music#72.7502.750

Ranked from 4 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

VOD: 

Overall Fun:

I love this game! I was very surprised at how in-depth you approached boot camp simulation. Training recruits, a loud drill sergeant, army chants, prestige unlocks, traits to lose/gain, postman delegation, feeding dogs, quests... And THEN you do the mission your recruits have been training so hard for and can add one of the recruits as an assistant afterward. Just beautiful game design all around!

Controls/UI:

Simple, effective, and streamlined. The only thing I was confused about was that I didn't realize until the third race competition that the bars under my recruit's names were their stamina bars and that would affect the race.

ART:

Great stylized pixel art. Every training had unique animations. Weather effects like rain were really fun. Your game was BREATHING (alive) and felt great. I do agree with graybard that the first training areas feel too similar with just a different stat being upgraded. More themed objects within each training would be fun.

Sound/Music:

No music played during training or mission combat is probably my only sad face. I'm playing late at night so no ambient music is rocking me to sleep. Not needed as much during training since you have a lot of ambient sounds every now and then... but I definitely suggest using some music during missions and racing competitions

Submitted

A very original kind of simulator for sure!


I like the idea of training each recruit in a specialized field so you can really taylor your experience. Unfortunately I kinda messed up from the start so it was hard to recover afterwards, but it was my bad I guess. ^^; One of my guys was low on Stamina and I didn't know how to recover it.

I also really liked how the game keeps opening up, giving you more options as you go, whether it be open new training grounds, take part in competitions and missions, etc.

The pixel art is simple yet effective. Even with such tiny sprites you can tell what they're doing (exercises and such), so it's perfect.

Maybe adding a bit of backround military music would add to the overall experience. Maybe not at all times, but it could like... come and go, without being overly loud, like a fanfare playing in the background, rehearsing far from the training ground?

Overall a pretty solid demo, well done!

Jam Host

Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest Pixel Art! I'm hythrain, the host for this quest and one of the streamers! This review is to let you know I just finished playing your game (this review is being written on stream) and am here to share feedback! If you want the VOD for afterwards, please let me know!

So at first, I wasn't sure what to make of this. The name was an obvious Full Metal Jacket reference, but I didn't know what the game would be. When I got in and saw it was a boot camp sim, with the... uhh... "insulting my recruits" part not really being a thing in the way I thought? I went "Okay. Sure. Let's try this."

When I started up, I had three recruits who all had different traits. One was Fat, one was Dumb and one was Sick. While I was able to get Fat and Sick figured out, I had a hard time figuring out how to fix dumb. By the time I had, I was more than halfway through the weeks. I do think something to make sure the player knows that the default training grounds can be changed for each stat (save Discipline) would be a good idea. Perhaps where when they first go to choose a training ground, it makes them choose which stat to train.

After this, I got to figure out the real way to build prestige and began working towards upgrades. I quickly realized how it was intended to build stats and not to rely on training grounds. I was getting really into it when I got to the end of the 12 weeks. So I thought "Okay, looks like this is over for now" only to suddenly be thrown into my recruits GOING ON A MISSION!

The addition of this aspect of the game caught me off guard so much from how you advertised it, and I love that a lot.

The mission was fun to do for sure, though I did get annoyed when I couldn't 100% figure out what I was doing until the very end. Might need a tutorial on the first go for that,

Otherwise, I was so upset when the demo DID end! I wanted more! I need more! It was so good!

If there was any criticism I had for the game, it would be the lack of music. Now, I get that having music doesn't make sense in an actual boot camp, but this isn't an actual boot camp. It's a game. Having that additional noise can help the player. There are many ways, I feel, that this music could be done too. You could go classic military music in the boot camps and then get some more dramatic music for missions, or you could embrace the era when FMJ was made and go 80s synth training music. I feel there are dozens of ways to go that would work.

And that's really it. That's all I got. Just wasn't a fan of so much silence. Otherwise, phenomenal game!

Submitted

I LOVED your game and think it deserves a LOT more attention! When I first saw it, I was like... "Oh, a boot camp simulator. Fun." I figured I'd send my soldiers into war and get a quick recap of how they did... but you then actually TAKE your soldiers into the field and watch it play out. SO GOOD! I can actually see myself buying your game! Very impressive.

I played until the end of the demo... so that's saying something. I also wish listed your game and plan to buy it eventually.

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OVERALL FUN:

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What's not to love? Training soldiers for war, balancing their needs and traits, screaming drill sergeant. I really enjoyed your game. I also love how you can purchase new buildings and add-ons, assign soldiers to certain duties to help relieve stress and stamina. This was a lot of fun. I could actually see myself buying your game.

So... train recruits. Then you take them to war... which is fun because it really makes you want to focus on how you train them. I don't want any of my men to die. I also love how you can THEN promote a surviving soldier to an assistant that helps train new recruits!

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CONTROLS/UI:

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Very easy-to-understand controls and a short tutorial that lets me jump right into playing.

Everything I needed to see was on screen, and I understood what to do.

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ART:

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Cute little pixel art. The map is simple but looks good. Each soldier and the task their assigned has it's own unique training animation. I also love how their uniform changes as they advance.

The ONLY thing missing... is regardless of which training you have assigned to each area... they all look the same. I think the game would really benefit from different artwork for each zone. Strength training zone actually has weights/benches, shooting range has targets, etc.

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SOUND/MUSIC:

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No music. While I think you're going for a more ambient background sound with training, your game would benefit from some music during, at least, the end of day recap screen and during missions/combat.

However, this isn't a huge deal. I love the chants during training and the drill sergeant screaming at the recruits. The rain, birds chirping, airplanes, and wind blowing sets a great tone during training. I do prefer no music during this portion of the game.

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SUGGESTIONS:

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This isn't super important, but it would be nice if we could name our soldiers. It would be fun if I could send myself and my friends to boot camp ;-)

Again-not SUPER important, but to get us even more attached to our soldiers... maybe let us customize them (just a bit). We get to go to the barracks and choose their hair/skin color. This, also, isn't that important, though.

You should only be allowed to assign your assistant to one training area per week. Once you do... they're stuck in that zone. I was easily able to move them around with my recruits and always gained +2 if they were successful.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for the feedback!

About naming the recruits: It is available in the full game (Options menu).

Submitted

Heck yes! Love that we can name them. Customization isn't important haha I was stuck with a recruit called Fart Ass... and I was like... "God, I wish I could rename them." LOL