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chrisholder

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A member registered 37 days ago

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I'm not sure if the intention was for a horror game, but the claustrophobic darkness and the jump scare of turning around to see the enemy does a great job of creating a horror atmosphere.

Some kind of hints signposting where the player should be going, even very subtle ones, would be very helpful, as would some way of indicating paths the player has already taken. Currently it seems impossible to navigate by anything other than trial and error, and with no memorable visual features I think I kept running round in circles (although I couldn't tell!) I was randomly running around the maze for a very long time before I found a single key, so I think the maze might be far too big (again, I couldn't tell as I could just have been repeating the same steps over and over again!) It also feels very cheap when the monster sneaks up on you with no warning - perhaps if the monster made a sound, getting louder as it gets near, the player might have a better chance of avoiding it. Perhaps the battery should recharge too as running out is basically game over.

Nice escape room puzzle game, and good use of the theme! The puzzles are well judged and require the player to think in different ways. I think it may be a bit tricky for anyone who isn't familiar with the notes on a keyboard, but the poster gives all the information needed so it should be manageable.

Just a couple of small implementation issues that should be easily fixable: it is very fiddly playing specific notes on the piano. I'm guessing each note has a collider which you are detecting with raycasts, so maybe check the colliders are aligned correctly. It might help if the camera could zoom in when playing the piano and/or the currently targeted note is highlighted before it is clicked on. It would be helpful if the cursor changes appearance when looking at an interactable object - I'm not sure I would have known I could interact with the radio if you hadn't told me, and I found myself trying to interact with every object and cupboard door when looking for the last clue. And finally I think you already know about the unlocked door.

I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to seeing more.

I really like the idea of basically building your own platformer level to reach a goal. Some information on what effect each block has would be helpful; I think one reduced jump height, but I didn't spot any others. I realised early on that by just placing all blocks directly on top of each other I could easily wall jump to the top, so perhaps limit wall jumps to force the player to build a more interesting tower. Fun game though.

This is great - deceptively simple mechanics used in very clever ways, with a well judged increase in difficulty and complexity as the game progresses.

Only a couple of minor things that could be improved: The tutorial text disappears too quickly; I had to restart the game to read it again. Either have the player push a button for it to disappear or integrate it into the environment (e.g. posters on the wall) so the player can look at it for as long as they want. At first I thought the resizing wasn't working because I was trying to pick up an object with the mouse button and then press Q/E while holding it. Perhaps allowing the player to resize an object while holding it could make it more intuitive. The falling boxes are very hard to catch; after trying a few times and failing I assumed that must not be what I was meant to do. You could make the boxes bigger, closer or increase their number or predictability to alleviate this. With some of the jumps in the falling box section it wasn't clear if I could make it or fall to my death; maybe make them a bit shorter so it is more obvious or introduce some kind of safety net (ie a platform underneath with steps back up) so the player isn't afraid to try.

Finally, make more of it! I'm looking forward to playing the completed version.

This game was fun in parts, but some sections are far more difficult than they need to be, often in ways that feel unfair rather than satisfyingly challenging. Firstly the colliders need to be smaller - so many times I felt I died from just walking close to a spike or saw without touching it, and I also kept snagging on platforms when jumping. Another thing is the synchronisation of moving objects - everything seems to be moving on its own independent timer, so in a few places I found myself waiting ages for 4 or 5 objects to sync up perfectly before I could safely make a jump. It would be better if these objects were synchronised so that they configure themselves the way the player needs more often. 

The controls could also benefit from some tweaking as it felt they lacked a bit of precision, which is very important in a game like this, particularly the minimum jump height which caused me to launch headfirst into a few sawblades when I was trying to make tiny jumps!

More (real!) checkpoints would be good too -  the levels seem quite long and having to restart them on each death can be frustrating. And the fake checkpoints are just evil!

The game could be really good if you can fix those issues.

I didn't manage to complete the game because at the start of level 2 I walked onto a grey box that I can't seem to jump or walk off. Perhaps if I'm feeling masochistic later I'll give it another go.

This was fun: the controls are responsive and the combat satisfying. The main thing to improve would be variety as the game became quite repetitive in terms of both level design and strategy. Being a Roguelike I assume there is some randomisation of layout, but apart from bosses most of the rooms seem identical - perhaps some variation could be introduced, like rooms with walls that can be used as cover. At first I played about with different strategies, changing size and weapon, but I soon realised that biggest size plus laser was basically an undefeatable combo so I used that in every room. I got to the end of the game without ever running out of ammo or dying, so the player's stats could definitely be reduced (and loot drops less generous). The corridors between rooms do seem too long, and that was the only reason to shrink so I could get through them faster, although the time  is useful for regenerating shield.

Fix those issues and incentivise the player to switch up strategies a bit and this could be a really good game.

The idea has potential, but currently a loop of all Cs seems to win every time. If you build on what you have with some additional mechanics that force the player to strategise a bit more it could be a nice little game. Good job on the art and audio.

Really nice idea and great use of a simple set of mechanics to come up with some complex level designs, but mein gott that difficulty curve! I broke 5 keyboards and went through 3 divorces to complete level 3...

I think part of the problem is that you have to press a direction before pressing space -  I think the game might feel fairer if it allowed you to start holding space before pressing a direction key. Is there a particular reason it's implemented this way? It's probably not helped by Unity being locked to 60fps on web increasing the likelihood of both button presses being captured in the same frame.

This is great, I really enjoyed playing it. Focusing on the gameplay rather than other elements, the controls feel just right and the difficulty is well judged, with the platforming challenges gradually getting harder as the game progresses. I'm not really sure what to say to improve it other than make more of it!

Nice idea, and the implementation is very polished. I felt the hammer was harder than the gun as you have to move around the table due to limited reach. The window fixing mechanic was a nice touch, but it would be cool if you could see and shoot giant ghosts through the big house windows, rather than just attacking the mini house.

A nice idea very well implemented. The game's world is very sparse and homogenous looking meaning it can be easy to get lost, but I think there's just the right amount of signposting for the player to work out where to go and what to do. I'm not sure what the purpose of the enemies is as they are easily avoided and when I tried fighting one I just got killed instantly.

The shooting is very satisfying - I think it's because the combination of small birds with big hit boxes makes me think I'm a better shot than I really am! Couldn't work out how to drink the pint though...

Some nice ideas, it's just a shame that each mechanic is only used once then never seen again because the game is so short! It would be nice to see them combined, for example using the jump pad and shrink together to jump into a small hole.  I didn't really get the 'shrinking to the quantum world' part, as the character only seemed to shrink to the size of a small child, not exactly quantum. I like the voiceover tutorials, as it allows the player to keep playing, which you can't usually do if you're reading text. 

Thanks for playing! It seems a lot of people are getting sucked off inside that warehouse...

This was fun, also frustrating at times but I think that's intentional. Controls work nicely and the mechanics are used in some clever ways. I did think the sections where you need to time jumps etc with the colour changing could have worked better if the colours changed in time with the music  (you have the bangin background beats, so why not use the rhythm element?)  I think the difficulty curve could do with some tweaks as there were some earlier sections that were much harder than later sections, and there was 1 particular jump about two thirds of the way through (just above the slightly helpful guy) that took me far too many attempts to get right, but that might just be my big dumb fingers...

This is really good fun. The controls took a while to get the hang of, but they do make sense for a top down skating game and feel good once mastered. Perhaps collision with lizards could be a bit more forgiving, particularly the invulnerability time so the player doesn't take damage multiple times from a single collision. I'm looking forward to seeing the puzzle version.

Fun pickpocket simulator, I'm not quite sure what the scale does (I guess it's not fully implemented yet?) The guards don't seem very good at their job - I can pick pockets right in front of them and they do nothing.

Nice simple platformer, shame there's only 1 level. Jump seemed to stop working sometimes, I'm guessing it's a problem with the ground check. I'm looking forward to seeing more levels (hopefully with the jumping fixed)!

This is a really nice idea, and the level is well designed around the mechanics, just a shame it's so short. The difficulty is a bit inconsistent, it would be great if it could ramp up more gradually as the player learns how to handle the ball. I'm looking forward to playing the final version.

I like this idea a lot and the mechanics are very well implemented into the level design. The controls can be a bit clumsy in places - I think the friction/damping values just need some tweaking. Enemies don't seem to be able to aim vertically, so combat is very easy if you just position yourself at a different height to them (or make them big) so that they can't hit you. Fun game, I'm looking forward to playing more levels in the final version.

I don't know the rules of American Rugby Soccer so this game was very confusing for me. I think I was eventually able to work out most of how to play, but I would suggest adding some kind of tutorial. The scaling powerup is a nice idea, but I never managed to get any use out of them as it takes a while to save up for one then if you miss that throw you lose it (and I kept missing most throws!)

Nice idea for the scale theme, and some good puzzles making use of the mechanics. Controls could do with some refinement as they make some of the platforming sections much harder than they need to be. Sometimes it seemed that I couldn't roll forwards, only sideways, which made judging jumps very awkward. Also the camera was super sensitive for me - if you use mouse look include a sensitivity setting. I'm looking forward to playing more levels in the final submission.

Nice bit of rage bait, although I didn't use the parameter scaling at all as any changes just seemed to lead to failure. I think part of the problem is that with the tight time limit and lives the player doesn't really get a chance to experiment with the scales, so instead I found myself optimising my route with the default values. Perhaps introduce some sandbox-like sections where the player can try out different settings with no time limit before they move onto the next timed section. Fun game though, and a nice idea.

Fun game, and nice use of the theme. I got a score of 31 before failing because I thought a watermelon is lighter than a mini fridge!

Nice integration of platforming with word puzzles.  It took far longer to get to the end than I was expecting to spend playing a game jam game! Good job introducing new mechanics and gradually explaining them to the player.

There was 1 part of level 2 where I got a bit stuck - In the room with a fan on the floor and 2 diagonal beams to climb up, the jump to the top platform seemed impossible until I realised you can use sprint in mid air (I think it was made harder by a bit of a problem with your grounded check where it thinks you are not grounded if you are walking downhill so it prevents jumping sometimes)

Mouse camera movement would have been good instead of arrow keys - mouse look is implemented as standard in the Unity Third Person Controller, so it probably would have been less work! 

A very simple idea nicely executed. The controls work well. I would like to have seen the game do more with the idea, like introduce more mechanics or challenges or different level designs.

Thanks for playing! The warehouse aliens can be defeated by going upstairs and looking through the windows, but I can see how that might not be obvious, especially in the darkness. And it seems I forgot to remove the colliders from overhead obstacles that can interfere with tractor beams!

It's a good idea to upload and test early versions of your game, as there may be bugs that don't occur when testing in the editor, only after uploading and playing in a browser.  Follow these instructions to (hopefully!) successfully build your Unity game for submission to the jam.

In Unity Editor:
File -> Build Profiles
If Web is not the active platform, select it and click Switch Platform (you may need to install the Unity Web Module)
Open the Scene List and ensure all required scenes are checked, with the scene that should open on launch at the top of the list
Open Player Settings (top of Build Profiles window)
Under Resolution and Presentation, set Default Canvas Width and Height (1280 x 720 usually works well)
Under Publishing Settings, set Compression Format to Disabled
Click Build in the Build Profiles window and create a build folder

Once the build has completed, zip everything in the build folder (Build, Template Data, index.html)

On your itch.io dashboard, create a new project
Set Kind of Project to HTML
Upload your zip file, and check "This file will be played in the browser"
Set Embed Options to Auto Detect Size (don't enable itch.io's fullscreen button as Unity adds its own)
Save and view page to check the game plays as intended.

If you're happy with your game, set the project's visibility to public and submit it on the CSC3231 Game Jam page!

You can replace your uploaded file with a new version any time before the jam ends (after this the file becomes locked).

Try and get your game uploaded and submitted at least a few hours before the jam ends to ensure you don't miss the deadline and have a bit of time left to iron out any last minute bugs.