itch.io

Playtest video recording

Second-time player.

Developer Questions

Level Design

• The tutorial level is a welcome addition. A more gradual progression would help new players. First tutorial is a straight hallway, second adds one turn, third adds two, and so on
• The grid apartment area held attention but started to feel repetitive after a while. More layout variety is the main need right now
• The money stats display and karate school placeholder are good additions. Glad to see where upgrades are headed
• Navigation signposting still needs work. The big arrow helps, but planning multi-turn routes requires stopping to look for the arrow or waste a round to do mental math on the apartment numbers so you know for future runs. 
• A new player hitting a complex multi-turn route without being able to intuitively read directions mid-kick could be a real drop-off point
• A more forgiving time limit could help with this, but better intuitive signposting would be the stronger fix

Kick Mechanics and Physics

• Box kicking still does not feel fully in control. Some randomness and jank is fine and fits the feel. But there is a line where it tips from charming into frustrating
• Getting the physics to a place where players feel like they have some control, while keeping an element of unpredictability, is the right target
• Noticed that spamming multiple kicks can launch the box in a fairly straight line. This feels like it could become an intentional mechanic or an unlock at the karate school rather than an unintended workaround

General Feedback

Positives

• The countdown sequence with the apartment preview was appreciated. It gives players a moment to orient before the chaos starts. You could consider adding a small map of the apartment layout during the count down as well to help with planning
• Progress since the last version is clear and encouraging
• The core feel of kicking a box through an apartment building is still fun and distinct

Areas to Improve

• More levels would help sustain engagement, even if they are simple. Progressing to a new layout after a successful delivery feels rewarding and keeps momentum going
• Navigation needs to be more intuitive before the game scales up in complexity. Players should be able to read their route at a glance rather than pause and calculate

General Impression

• Solid progress. The foundation is getting stronger. Focus on nailing the kick physics first, then layer in more level variety. Excited to see where this goes.

Playtest video recording

Developer Questions

Does the player fall too fast or too slow?

• Falls slightly too slow
• The jump sound feels faster than the actual movement, which amplifies this feeling
• As the game speeds up, faster and crisper up/down movement will become more important
• Quick, precise reactions will matter more as levels get complex and skill-based

Does the difficulty ramp up too fast or too slow?

• Ramp-up felt fine, slightly on the slow side but not by much
• Difficulty progression felt steady due to increasing speed
• The occasional hallway narrowing added a nice dynamic to timing challenges
• The bigger issue is that moving up and down alone does not hold attention for long. More variety will be needed to sustain engagement

General Feedback

Positives

• Straightforward and easy to learn. The one-button design means players understand it almost immediately through play
• No obvious bugs encountered
• Acceleration indicators are helpful and well-placed. Knowing the game is actually speeding up rather than imagining it is reassuring

Areas to Improve

• Movement responsiveness could be tighter. A quicker, crisper feel on button press would improve the overall experience
• The jump sound feels out of sync with the movement. Matching the audio timing to the visual response and including a landing sound to complete the transition would improve the feel

General Impression

• Solid early prototype. Reactive, readable, and easy to pick up
• The core loop needs additional mechanics or variety to hold attention over time
• Curious to see where it goes as the concept develops

Note: left ratings at 3/5 stars since this was my first time playing

Developer Questions

1. Did you get stuck anywhere?

• Got stuck on the suppression cube level and could not progress despite restarting
• Moved on to the Newtonian mining area but could not figure out the objective and stopped playing

2. Are the mechanics clear?

• Clear: Blue gravity walls and activating them via switches
• Clear: The purple path as a directional guide
• Unclear: How to execute the suppression cube puzzle. The concept made sense but could not be applied in practice
• Unclear: What the wrench does. Somehow progressed through early areas without it, then had it in my hand after restarting the suppression level.
• Unclear: How to harvest Newtonian ore or identify the red zone as a hazard before dying to it. The number font looked more a 7 than a 1.
• Overall: mechanics make intellectual sense but did not reach a point of confident or intuitive play

3. Frustrations and Jankiness

• Gravity transitions feel sudden and uncontrolled. Being caught off guard by blue fields caused repeated disorienting screen rotations
• This seemed to cause slight motion sickness, which is unusual for me. I'm very well acquainted with fast-paced FPS games and love roller coasters.
• The tutorial lounge introduced multiple sodas with distinct effects, implying they would be used in gameplay. I didn't get to the point where I had access to them, so that was a bit of a let down.
• Jump gravity feels off. The ascent and descent rates feel mismatched, with falling happening much faster than rising

General Feedback

Tutorial and Onboarding

• I'm not a huge fan of lots of written instructions and prefer learning through play and environmental/visual teaching
  • Example: animated lights moving toward the goal could replace directional text prompts
• Mechanics are introduced before the player has enough context to use them
• Pacing moves into complexity too quickly. Portal's gradual, world-integrated tutorialization is a useful reference point

Feel and Visuals

• Sudden screen rotation during gravity shifts is the single biggest issue. It needs tuning to feel intentional rather than chaotic
• The bright cyan blue walls are visually intense and add to the disorientation
• A more muted base palette with selective highlights could reduce visual overwhelm

Scope

• There is clearly a lot of content across many levels and mechanics. But the foundation needs more polish before that content pays off
• Players may disengage before reaching later content if the early experience feels bad physically or mechanically

Positives

• The core concept is compelling. Portal's established framework makes it easy to grasp the basic idea quickly
• The soda mechanic in the lounge was fun and playful. Worth leaning into further
• Respawning feels fair and low-friction

Note: First-time player. ~20 minutes played. No basis for rating improvements versus prior versions. All ratings left at 3/5 as defaults.

Did the tutorial explain the game well enough?

Yes. The core mechanics were explained clearly, though the tutorial felt a bit long and I was briefly confused about which quest it wanted me to create. Some grayed-out buttons also added to that confusion.

Did the minimize windows work as you would expect?
Minimizing, reopening, and moving the window worked as expected. Resizing the minimized window worked, but I didn’t realize it was possible until much later.

What minimized windows would you expect in this type of game?
Mainly the ability to control how small the minimized window is. That functionality already exists; it just needs clearer visual indication that the window is resizable.

The voice lines didn’t land strongly for me. At first I didn’t understand what they were. Once I realize it was the package owner, they felt less impactful than improvements to core gameplay would be.

I'm not trying to discourage you from having voice over though. There's definitely room for flavored voice over to provide some feedback on the success/failure of the delivery. It seems like hearing the package owner is something you probably wouldn't experience as the player since you're on this mad tear to destroy and deliver as many packages as possible. The delivery person wouldn't be waiting to hear what the package owner says, but I might be thinking too literally.

Note: I didn’t play earlier versions, so my feedback is based only on the current build.

Upgrade System

• I like that there’s a clear upgrade path, and the tooltips are very helpful. It’s easy to understand what each upgrade does before buying it.
• Upgrades didn’t always feel impactful. After ~45 minutes and several purchases, the difference in progression wasn’t as noticeable as expected, especially early on when players are still forming their sense of momentum.
• The dragonfly stood out here. Saving up for it felt like a meaningful milestone, but in practice it only drops food occasionally and didn’t feel worth the cost. This might just need tuning (price vs. drop frequency).

Pacing

• Being able to purchase multiple koi at once definitely helps the pacing and supports more active play.
• Overall, the progression feels a little slow. That may be intentional for a chill idle game, but I expected to see more visible or financial growth within the first 45 minutes. Stronger early feedback on how upgrades affect income or growth could help.
• A clear visual and sound cue when a fish reaches adulthood would be great. Something like a small particle sparkle + short sound cue would make it immediately obvious they’re ready to sell.
  

Music

• The music matches the vibe of the game very well. It fits the tone and mood.
• The main issue is that it’s very simple and repetitive. Expanding it with more layers/details, or a few additional short tracks that fade between each other would keep the atmosphere fresh without requiring complex compositions.

Sound & Atmosphere (adjacent but relevant)

• There’s a lot of opportunity to deepen immersion with environmental audio to help the pond feel more alive and textured.
  • water ambience (lapping, soft stream/waterfall)
  • light nature sounds (insects, subtle wildlife)
  • more interaction sounds

Thank you for playing and the feedback! I've been working on some additional polish and an updated version will be available in January. 

Got it, thank you!

Hey there, the maze pack looks great! How do you avoid the overlapping texture problem when laying out the maze pieces on a grid? 

This seems to happen because the beveled outer edges extend beyond the grid. Additionally, you can see the flickering through the masked layer since there aren't versions of the pieces that have the connecting faces removed. 

I'm guessing I'll need to open the files in blender, remove the faces, and save a different version. Thanks!