I'm happy for your feedback and I totally agree with its flaws.
At its current stage you can only place parts on the original body since I didn't have time to implement a working collider system.
The part you're feeling is prob that the items doesn't have a perfect collision system. Their hitboxes didn't really align with the sprite.
Also I made some stupid decisions when making this, for some weird reason, I designed it so the editor and the playable character are in different scenes and different objects :P
The problem with that, is that I had to get every parts location, mirror pos, rotation, scale, sprite etc -> save it to a database -> Try to replicate it on a new scene with the information on the database. And I have no idea why I did this.
So that's why I had to limit the editor a bit, since it took so long to add something new and I had to integrate it into the database reference system.
Thank you for taking time to comment! I'm wondering if I should just recreate the game again but with only one scene and just skip all the complicated stuff, but I'm not sure if I will have enough content to continue in round 2.
Here comes some more feedback since you asked for it :P
The game has a lot of charm and even more potential charm. The game is very cozy and you managed to create quite an atmosphere with the idea and the music, it honestly reminded me a bit of Firewatch! The vibe is strong and pleasant and the core idea of customizing fireworks is super unique!
The biggest issue rn are visibility, readability and player feedback. As a player it's not super clear what you're supposed to do and what the goal is. There's very little guidance, so adding some type of narrator / tutorial, or just gentle onboarding would help loads!
Volume sliders would be very useful. The music is a bit loud by default and it would be nice to start it at a lower volume and then let the player turn it up if the want to.
I like the overall progression structure, the way you assemble the fireworks and then the ending with the cute firework cutscene! That flow works well.
However, the UI has some usability problems:
-The handles are hard to notice since they are almost the same color as the background
-The feature of the handels looks visibly pleasing, but in practise it feels a bit unnecessary to drag the small boxes back and forth.
-Right now the separated boxes sometimes overlap when you try to customize.
-I would prefer if the colors were visible upfront. Maybe customization could be split into two clear steps: Choose color -> Choose effects.
The little effect and animation that appear when you press a color is nice, but adding some type of indicator on what you have selected would be good for player feedback. For example: highlighting the currently active color / effect on the UI as well.
At the moment there is also no replayablity. You "could" play it again but there is no strong reason to. Adding a goal-driven system would help a lot. Maybe some type of small mission where someone requests a specific type of firework, and you have to recreate it based on clues or requirements?
To bring everything together, a light narrative or story could really work well with this game. For example, some poetic story. It could maybe be a bouta parent and a child on New Year's Eve, talking about life while creating fireworks together.
The player could figure out favorite colors or styles through dialogue and try to create the "perfect" firework. Something like that could give the game more direction and emotional impact. With a story you would get invested in the making of the firework and also the last scene would have even more impact!
I know some of this is way over scope, but I'm sharing it since you asked for more feedback :) Overall, this is a super unique idea and with some more polishing, personality and direction, this could be something special!
Here comes the more constructive clique! (since u asked for it, sorry if I'm harsh, I know its a jam :P)
I really enjoyed the core loop of the game, the idea is solid and it fits the jam! It was fun to fly around, take down the asteroids, upgrade and try to make an optimal build. The visuals are on point and the atmosphere is great! Everything fit together nicely.
One drawback on the gameplay was that it was a bit unclear.. What was the difference between mining and damage? It would help if those systems where more distinct (maybe different buttons / actions), that would make things more clear.
Movement and aiming were a bit difficult using WASD, aiming with the mouse would be better IMO, since I I feel like these kind of games usually use a joystick, you can't really get direct aim since the keys doesn't have any input sensitivity to them.
The research system was cool and it was the thing that kept you motivated to get more exp, but it felt disconnected from the rest of the game. In its current state it feels like a loop of clicking a button -> waiting for a long time -> repeat (and you can't even spend all points at once) which makes it a bit frustrating. This led to me getting a bit bored, I even had to put on a auto clicker and do something else while it was upgrading, since I wanted to see the potential of the spaceship.
It would feel more engaging if the research was more integrated with the rest of the game. Maybe for example you invest resources or money into improves that gradually enchase your ship (over time), it is kind of the same as your current setup but there is one key difference. You invest money and then you can do something else (while they do their own thing). And then you can come back later and see their progress in the lab.
I really like the idea of expeditions, it adds a whole new layer of gameplay and complexity! These things are def not crucial for the jam but I will still add some key points and thoughts.
The expeditions where cool but it had the same flaws as the research system. It felt a bit off, it would be more interesting if expeditions were more interactive. For example: sending a certain number of ships, where more ships => higher rewards (but also higher risk?). You could deploy an expedition, play the game and come back and see whether the expedition went well or not. This adds an element of gambling and control and also it feels more alive since you're not actively waiting for the expedition to finish.
A bit over scope, but even adding simple scenarios where you decide whether and expedition is worth the risk or not would be the system way more engaging!
Now to summarize, this game is totally amazing and I played it for very long! I'm amazed in what you had time to create in such short time and this is def one of my top entries this round! The game has a strong foundation with a lot of potential!
You outdid yourself with the polish and game feel, hats of for you!
With some more clear systems and tighter integration between mechanics the game will feel even more alive! Well done! :D
