itch.io

Hey everyone,

I was looking at the voting categories and noticed a potential issue. With the "self-explanatory" theme and the zero-text rule, the current criteria heavily reward games that are just easy to figure out right away. I know that's the whole point of the theme, but it feels like the current setup values the "self-explanatory" aspect too much, leaving no room to judge innovation or creativity.

The thing is, if someone submits a Tetris clone, they'll easily get top scores. It’s familiar and totally intuitive, but it brings nothing new to the table. Since there isn't a category that lets voters express other qualities of a game, the system just lacks granularity.

It would be nice to have something like "Overall" or "Creativity".

This would give voters a way to reward a game's ambition and out-of-the-box design, even if it ends up being a bit less "self-explanatory" than a standard arcade clone.

What do you guys think?

[SPOILER ALERT! don't read this if you haven't played the game yet]

thank you so much for the honest feedback! its always fascinating to see how a design that makes perfect sense in the developer's head shatters the moment it's released into the wild.

since incremental games usually rely heavily on text, our main challenge was making the mechanics purely visual. We tried using the totems on the upgrade island to show tangible changes, like spawning more balls or multiplying points. To signal the main goal, we placed the destination island right in front of the player, intending for the collected points and balls to form a bridge toward it. 

It worked flawlessly in our minds haha, but obviously, it needs a lot more iteration and playtest to truly be "self-explanatory"! I really appreciate you taking the time to play and sharing your experience

thanks for the feedback. we used the classic WASD + E to interact scheme, standard for 3D PC games, what specific parts felt a bit weird to you?

the ball spawns right after the game starts, maybe 2 or 3 seconds in (it's a continuous spawn with a set interval)

super cool game!

i really like the art, the dark humor, and the progression, it’s such a great submission! Also, I have to say, I checked out your Itch page and my god, you are so talented. All of your games look insanely good. Well done!

thanks for the feedback! you hit the nail on the head. Making self-explanatory upgrades without text was harder than I initially thought. Static '+X%' buffs would felt unnoticeable, so I pivoted to spawning more balls, faster respawn and scaling up the hole size. But without proper balancing, after a certain level they stop helping much and just become a waste of cash. i had cooler mechanics lined up but completely ran out of time. It definitely needed more polish on the balancing side, but I'm glad you saw the potential. Thanks for playing!

this was the best game I've played so far! such a simple concept with great implementation and depth. Nice graphics, sound, and design. It’s amazing how polished and complete the game feels with such a clean aesthetic. Seriously, well done!

solid submission, I really dig the atmosphere. It feels a bit too grindy for me, but design-wise, the mood and overall elements were nice. Turns out incrementals dont need text that much, it feels fun to figure out what upgrades do what. I tried to pull that off too, my game was also an incremental and it was a cool challenge. I think you did a better job than me, the upgrades in your game feel much clearer. Good job on the game!

hell yeah!

solid submission! The design is indeed self-explanatory, very good depth with minimal setup. Unfortunately, I got stuck around level 4 or 5, and without a reset button, I couldn't finish. Still, a great entry. The character controller is simple but feels responsive, completely free of the usual game jam jankiness. Good stuff!

Excelente, design simples e interessante, sons bem coerentes com o art style também. Na minha humilde opinião você é o ganhador. Parabéns!

thanks

I love how crucial timing is when jumping in this kind of setting, (not only when you press the button, but the amount of time you hold and wait until the contact with the ground is optimal), its brings a role new dimension to timing in a platformer, here is matters so much more, also the normal/angle of the jump is a cool thing. I wonder how many other interesting interactions this kind of mechanic could create. Amazing stuff!

Hey, Steb, I'm relieved that you accepted my feedback in a good spirit, sometimes I feel bad for pointing out things I didn't like about a game, but I think that's very important and that's the only way to improve. You have such a good concept and fantasy to explore with this game, I am excited to see the next updates.

This is GREAT!

The game does a great job of creating atmosphere using graphics, this part is ready for me, but the gameplay needs serious work.

The first thing that breaks the mood is the fact that I just don't want to kill the monsters, they are just doing their thing, not attacking me, in the middle of the ocean, and sometimes I feel them almost harmless because if you drive in circles they just don't hit you 99% of the time.

Visually, the fight conveys a lot of tension, but the gameplay and music during the fights don't.

My feeling is that battles go back to driving in circles and spamming harpoons, things like the boat’s position are "in a sense" almost irrelevant because you don’t have time to maneuver the boat to avoid some attacks and the best you can do is just moving the boat in circles and spamming harpoons, this dominant strategy detracts a lot for the fights, I feel that you have to implement some 'telegraphs' in the enemies attacks so the player could use the boat’s position more as a strategy element, would be nice if the player has more things to do, more things to juggle during fights.

Perhaps if you change the boat controls a bit or tweak monster attack speed, boat speed, this could add some more layers of strategy and decision for the player that would enrich the experience.

for example. in the first monster, the player has no idea where it will emerge again, so you don’t even try to maneuver the boat and use it as a strategy, the dominant strategy of going in circles is always the best option and that limits the game.

Input bug maybe: the movement of the mouse seems janky, especially at the port, sometimes the aim freezes for a few milliseconds and teleports to another random point.

I liked the game and I think it has great potential, but the gameplay could be improved. I wish you all the best and I'll keep an eye on the project, is really impressive what you could produce by yourself.

Don't know what I'm doing. 

And is strangely entertaining, I think you found a loophole in game design :)

Thanks for putting my game on the list :)

Thanks Bkush! I'm happy that you notice my effort to make the Itch page looks a bit cooler haha. Any artistic endeavor is always super challenging to me, but I try :)

Thanks Kai! Yes, my thought process was more like, getting the classic Snake game, and in the process of trying to find a way to add "strategic death" to it, I stumbled in this mechanic :) I'm glad you liked the game!

Thanks NoonTimeDreamer! Your game is wonderful too, I like it a lot.

Thanks! The problem with WASD is that is terrible for other keyboard layouts, like France, Russia, and some other countries, the arrow keys are more universal. But I could add both of course.   will remember to do this in the next jam. Thanks for the feedback! :)

Hey Deblue! I agree with you, I miss have more levels to play myself. I started the jam quite late and have only 20 hours to do it, that's why I couldn't explore more of the mechanic. And yes, the lives should be more visible, especially because of my choice of color for the Itch page, it makes it very hidden. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for the feedback!

Hey Orange Flag! Of course you can put the game on the list, no problem.

That's super polished! I loved your game.

Thanks Nagames!

Thanks!

Thanks Bl4st!

Ah yes, it can happen at some levels, I didn't have time to polish this aspect of the game but I'm glad you liked it! Thanks!

Hey Orange Flag thanks! I'm glad you had fun with the game, this is my ultimate goal! :)

Thanks!

Thanks Source1012!

Hey, Starfishes! Wow, thanks for the kind words. I am very happy that you enjoyed the game.

I'm glad you noticed the simplicity of the mechanics and the depth of the gameplay, this is always my goal when I design games. I also appreciate the criticism. Thanks a lot!

Thank you!

Thanks. Yes, you're right. I didn’t have time to make all levels perfect, I saw that on some levels this problem existed but I didn’t have time to fix it :) I'm glad you liked the game :)

Thanks MrMuff! I never played Snakebird but seems awesome! I will put it on my list of games to test.

Thanks, Demindiro!

Thanks ClumsyDog I'm glad you liked it :)