I'm torn, I don't know what to rate this game. On one hand its extremely beautiful, and I can see the effort went into this. On the other hand unlike many people in the comment section I don't think the theme was explored very well. Having only one button / one objective can apply to a lot of games in the mobile market already. Also the objective wasn't very clear to me. My 2 cents. I bet you guys could accomplish great things given enough time.
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Thanks for the feedback !
As @Aegard said in an earlier comment, and I'll let him answer in more details, the theme has been respected (as it is a one button game as you said ^^) but it shouldn't restrict other parts of the design just because there is a theme. Only One battery cell wouldn't be fun to play.
The theme should drive creativity, not constrain it ;)
Hey lethandralis, thanks for your comment :)
So you think we didn't explore the theme well enough because it's not original?
We know the game is, despite still being in the theme, not a brand new fresh concept but to be fair, the design has slightly drifted from the initial pitch ( but you know... time/production constraints ^^ ).
We did have another pitch that was a bit more original, but also much more ambitious and we heart-brokenly discarded it because we didn't feel it was doable in 48hours.
I'm now curious about what you would actually change in the concept? Did you have something in mind?
@KiruB and @MaxiPoki, and all developers,
I did not say that the game doesn't fit the theme, it does - but it seems to be a game that happens to fit the theme, rather than a game that is designed around the theme. Yes, the theme should not diminish the user experience, but I believe it *should* restrict the design. That is the beauty of it - working with constraints, so your creativity is boosted. Obviously I cannot come up with a design that will drastically improve and build upon your concept off the top of my head, I had to think for hours to find a game design that fits the theme for my game. And I'm definitely not claiming I could do a better job than you guys did. It's easy to like a polished game with beautiful graphics but harder to give useful criticism - and it is even harder to accept the critique as developers, as you worked really hard to build something you love.
The funny thing is we actually thought for hours as well and had other ideas that were probably more designed around the theme as you said but discarded them because they would have been way more risky in 40h.
I totally understand your point and to be honest I am probably the guy within the team who agrees with you the most.
I can assure you we do accept and value criticism. After all, it's just a jam and we all do our best to have a great time ^^.
Thanks for the comment ! Any constructed feedback is really appreciated ;)
That is a conversation we had yesterday. And I disagree with you ^^
I think the design shouldn't be constrained by the theme. It can if you want, don't get me wrong, but it shouldn't by default. I mean our game wouldn't be as interesting with only one charge available, that is bad design in my opinion to constrain that just because of the "only one" theme.
To me I find it as beautiful and interesting to fit the theme and think everything as carefully as possible around it. And I think that is something we did with our game. Sure our base idea isn't original, a lot of game are one button game after all, even in this jam.
But I think we crafted a design around that constraint to make a deep and interesting game. You have a lot to do, to think about, you can make a strategy to do the best as you can. And all that around that one button design.
Find the most original stuff and constraint a lot your design or use the least original stuff but build as many things as you can around it are two sides of the same coin. And the two are a way of exploring the theme.