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I nearly thought the game was broken as on my first match as I didn’t properly understand that I needed to select keyboard/mouse as my P1 input type (the UI kind of suggested to me that it was already set). Also the CPUs were not at all intelligent lol (though the fact that you have CPUs in a jam game is impressive on its own).

Other than that, I really liked the concept! Turning the classic game of Dots and Boxes into a high-octane multiplayer toy car racing game is quite neat! I can definitely see this game being incredibly fun and chaotic to play with a group of friends. It’s just too bad I don’t have any friends locally to play with :(

We’re going to be working on a post-jam update, and in it we’re going to turn Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day, where there is no timer and all controls are taught to you at once! This should hopefully stop the constant dying on Day 1 and allow you to truly breathe more as you learn what the whole game’s about. I originally liked the idea of Day 1 resulting in you getting fired a few times, but I now see how that turned out to be quite frustrating to a lot of people! I’m glad it worked for you, though!

Your comment about the interaction area sizes is a new one! I do fully agree, though! A clean sweep through every single one for the post-jam update would definitely be worth the time; in hindsight, I can definitely see the dogs in specific being far too small haha

Also to note, when I’ve further questioned the comments from others about the timings being too strict, I’ve learned that some of them weren’t properly made aware of the run button existing! So that partially explains that lol! Our bad, we’re going to dramatically update the onboarding process. I’m assuming you were aware of and were using the run button?

That’s unlucky, sorry about that! On Day 1 there is some text on the bottom of the screen informing you of this, but in hindsight the whole onboarding process for the controls (especially the run button) and gameplay loop is incredibly insufficient. Several comments we’ve gotten prove that you were not the only one who didn’t realize that there was a run button haha

In the post-jam update we plan to address this by having the first day (now Scringlo’s Training Day) have no timer and teach the controls much better! As well, we will detect if the player isn’t running for an extended amount of time and send them a reminder popup telling them how to run!

Do you think that these features, if implemented at the time you played, would have helped you realize that there is a run button?

Your in depth actionable feedback is very much so greatly appreciated! Your intentions are very noble too!

Adding juice makes sense; I do feel silly that I’ve never fought about that for the run until you mentioned it haha. You’re absolutely right, though. I like all of your ideas for how to add some juice; I’ll experiment with those!

Again, thank you so much!

Hey, me again! After discussing this issue with some other commenters, I am wondering if you were aware of the run button existing. I’m trying to further investigate why some people are having issues with the time limits (as I truly did think the difficulty curve was good), and I’ve discovered that the onboarding for the controls (specifically the run button) is sometimes insufficient. While running, you should be able to accomplish the time requirement moderately easily!

If this is not the case though, please let me know that too, and I will further investigate editing the time limits for the post-jam update!

Hey, me again! I was wondering if you were aware of the run button existing. I’m trying to figure out why some people are having issues with the time limits (as I truly did think the difficulty curve was good), and I’ve discovered that the onboarding for the controls (specifically the run button) is sometimes insufficient. While running, you should be able to accomplish the time requirement moderately easily!

If this is not the case though, please let me know that too, and I will further investigate editing the time limits for the post-jam update!

That makes sense, I like and agree with the popup idea! I wonder though if a more elegant solution would be to detect if the player has not been running for more than 2 seconds in a 20 second window and then give them the popup then.

I do want players actively pressing the run button. In the post-jam update, with a new semi-toggle run system, they are going to be able to toggle running, but it will be disabled once they enter a minigame or stay still for a tiny bit. My goal has always been to make them feel like Scringlo as much as possible with the constant acceleration into high gear, but I don’t want to ruin the player experience by forcing that feeling in a way that annoys the player (which I think I did a little bit in the jam version given the numerous feedback we’ve gotten about people’s pinkies hurting lol).

I’ll implement that popup idea and tweak it around! And thank you so much for your in-depth feedback! Jams are always so fun to me for this specific reason, and we’ve never before gotten anywhere near such a large player pool to gather feedback from haha

Makes sense! I’ve gone ahead and added a map near there for the post-jam update. Thank you!

Interesting! Do you have any suggestions on how we can better onboard the controls? I wonder if the other people expressing concerns about the timer had a similiar issue.

In the post-jam update, here is what the Day 1 (now Scringlo’s Training Day) controls popup looks like. Is this an improvement? Can you think of anything to add?

This is actually super interesting to me, so I’d like to dive into this more if you’re okay with that. That day would be Day 4. What’s interesting to me is that I’m able to complete this day while completely walking (absolutely no running) with 10 seconds on the timer to spare.

Of course I have the benefit of understanding this game inside and out, but this suggests to me that the underlying issue here may not be the time limit but instead something else. Do you remember what your routing/pathing looked liked for that day? Were you using the run button? Did you frequently get lost in the world? How frequently did you use the maps?

Thanks!

Hey, I’m super glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! I do have a small question for you. Your comment of “I felt stressed out and like a multitasking wizard at the same time” sounds to me like the design of the days’ task order and time limits worked wonderfully for you, which is great! Though we’re receiving consistent feedback that the time given per day should be increased.

I was wondering for you specifically if there were any days that you felt were harder than the rest. Were the first few days harder as you were learning the game, or did the chaos of the last few days make those harder?

Thanks!

I’m currently exploring ways to increase the time for a post-jam update, as you and many others have expressed concerns with it! Question for you though, did you notice that you were struggling with earlier days more so than later days, or vice-versa? I’m specifically wondering if a blanket +10 second increase across all days is the right way to go, or if earlier days should be increased more than later days (e.g. +15s Day 3 and +5s Day 8), or vice-versa.

Thank you for your feedback, by the way! I’m super glad to hear that you enjoyed the game!

A lot of our recent comments have been mentioning increasing the time, so I’m probably going to do that for the post-jam update haha. We have a history of poorly balancing difficulty in our jam games, though I was honestly quite proud of this one’s difficulty curve at the time of submission, but alas! This is why games need to be playtested! lol

Question though, do you think a blanket +10 seconds throughout each day would be sufficient, or do you think the time increases should be weighted more for earlier days or for more later days? In other words, should earlier days have a bigger time increase than later days, vice-versa, or should it be consistent throughout?

Either way, I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! And we greatly appreciate the kind feedback!

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! In the beginning, what exactly were you confused by? How do you think we should address that issue? We’re going to make a post-jam update, so I’m wondering if there’s anything we can add that can help onboard future players more efficiently!

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! The fruit stand issue popping up really does seem to be a 50/50 lol, seems to depend on how you first read/digest the info, which is different for everyone.

For a post-jam update we’re considering implementing a semi-toggle run button, where you can press it to run up until either a) you stop inputting move inputs or b) you enter a minigame. Do you think that such a thing would help save future pinkies?

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! For a post-jam update, we’re considering turning Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day, where there is no timer and all controls are taught to you at once. Do you think this would help make Day 1 more manageable/digestible? Is there any other changes with it that you’d like to see?

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! For a post-jam update, we’re considering turning Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day, where there is no timer and all controls are taught to you at once. Do you think this would help make Day 1 more manageable/digestible? Is there any other changes with it that you’d like to see?

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! For a post-jam update, we’re considering turning Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day, where there is no timer and all controls are taught to you at once. Do you think this would help make Day 1 more manageable/digestible? Is there any other changes with it that you’d like to see?

Ah I gotcha, I originally misunderstood, sorry! Yeah the timing is intended to be tough to test your organization, memorization, and map routing capabilities. I think what would help a lot is a slower Day 1, as the game kind of just throws you straight into the timer chaos. Would you agree?

For a post-jam update our current plan is to turn Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day, where there is no timer and all instructions are taught at once. Im hoping that such a change makes the timer easier to assimilate to come Day 2 and onward!

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! We’re currently putting together a post-jam patch for the game that rounds out a lot of the rough corners; is there anything in specific that you’d like to see in that update? I’m just curious on what specifically you’re referring to when you say “needed more time overall”! (we genuinely want to polish this game haha)

Sounds good, I’ll play around with the UX a bit more with consideration for those two things and see what I can do. Thank you so much!

Yeah that makes sense haha. I think a previous commenter said they tried to do the same thing! Originally the visual guide was supposed to be a single texture, but the artist initially forgot to add the visual guide to the menu art. As a quick fix to not waste her precious time (she was truly grinding and busy as hell lol) we tried to use the already-given fruit textures. In the process I messed up and somehow gave them the same logic as the colored, draggable fruits haha. And then we all somehow forgot to adequately test this game and none of us caught this issue before submitting. So that’s why they behave as they do; they’re supposed to be a still image purely for reference!

Do you think that changing their color, position, rotation, etc would help in communicating the minigames intended behavior? Or do you think just making them non-draggable and having the “can’t drag here” mouse icon show up on the mouse cursor when dragging to them will be sufficient enough.

That’s good to know, thank you! Unfortunately I’m not sure if that is worth fixing in a post-jam update, but I’ll take the lesson to heart and use it for our future projects!

I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the game! Fun little tidbit, we debated a lot internally on whether or not to have the golf minigame be in the world or in a UI menu. Ultimately I got us to push forward on doing the former, but in hindsight I feel as though I made the wrong call haha. Do you think having the golf minigame happen in a menu (like the vault, fruit stand, and wire minigames) would have been less jarring?

Thanks to your feedback and the feedback of others, in a post-jam update, we’re going to add a semi-toggle run system! You’ll be able to toggle run, but stopping for too long (either through manual inputs or playing a minigame) will automatically stop your sprint. I want players to have to input the run action enough so that they themselves feel like Scringlo constantly having to book it and accelerate across the map (instead of just constantly moving everywhere at a consistently high speed with little input). Hopefully this should help!

I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the game, though! We apologize for the fruit stand minigame haha, we’ll fix that in a post-jam update! Also don’t worry about the elderly, they had it coming.

Thanks to your feedback and the feedback of others, in a post-jam update, we’re going to add a semi-toggle run system! You’ll be able to toggle run, but stopping for too long (either through manual inputs or playing a minigame) will automatically stop your sprint. I want players to have to input the run action enough so that they themselves feel like Scringlo constantly having to book it and accelerate across the map (instead of just constantly moving everywhere at a consistently high speed with little input). Hopefully this should help!

I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the game, though! We’re all very proud of the level of polish we accomplished, and sofeeicedtea did a phenomenal job with the art haha!

Thanks to your feedback and the feedback of others, in a post-jam update, we’re going to add a semi-toggle run system! You’ll be able to toggle run, but stopping for too long (either through manual inputs or playing a minigame) will automatically stop your sprint. I want players to have to input the run action enough so that they themselves feel like Scringlo constantly having to book it and accelerate across the map (instead of just constantly moving everywhere at a consistently high speed with little input). Hopefully this should help!

I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the game, though! Fun little tidbit, with the golf minigame, we were heavily debating on whether or not it should be in the world or in a UI menu. I ultimately got us to go forward with the former, but in hindsight I’m not sure if I made the right call haha. Do you think having it in a menu (like the majority of other minigames) would have made it easier? Also don’t worry about the elderly, they had it coming.

This was great feedback to hear! I was curious about whether or not Day 1 was too dramatic/hectic for brand new players, and I think your feedback has been the final straw in pushing me to answer with “yes” haha. In a post-jam update, we’re going to turn Day 1 into Scringlo’s Training Day (full controls tutorial + no timer) and let Day 2 be the beginning of the chaos; that should hopefully help!

Where do you think the best spot to place a 4th or potentially 5th map would be? The currently placed 3 were very deliberately placed with consideration for when players may need them the most. I don’t want to add too many as I do want memorization to play a role, but I do agree that another one or two may be worth considering in order to help with the chaos of the final few days! I’m just curious about what player patterns are occurring so that I know the best spot to place more in a post-jam update!

We apologize greatly for the issues with the fruit stand! That was a generational fumble on our behalf lol. I’ve gone ahead and added instructions on how to complete it to the game’s itch page, both for you (if you want to give it another try) and for those who come after you! We will fix this in a post-jam update haha

I’m super glad that you enjoyed the game up until that point, though!

This is such a goofy idea; I love it. The quantity and variety of items (cards?) you could use did lead to a lot of synergy potential. At times I really felt like I was cheesing the game (but in a good way) haha

This game is incredibly ambitious in scope, but almost to its detriment. The fact that you were able to accomplish this much in 4 days is crazy, but the game is definitely in need of some polish. Groundhog-ing within a tight narrative is a really cool way to fit the jam’s theme, I just wish you had more time! If you guys feel like doing so, this might be a good project to spend a few more weeks on after the jam concludes, just so that you can fully realize your vision!

I think I could have used a tutorial, but once I began to understand what was going on I ended up greatly appreciating the game’s concept! The opening scene was probably the highlight for me tbh, I really liked the vibes. Playing as the big bad “enemy” (based on perspective) was executed very nicely here; I did feel big and powerful compared to my opponents lol

The diner game concept is often overdone, but I enjoyed this unique take on it! Killing the customers at the end to receive more inventory items was a really funny way to diegetically incorporate a very unique gameplay concept!

I think I just wished for two things. First, a keyboard-bound button for speeding up the revolving belt. There was a UI button for doing so, but constantly having to drag my mouse to it was a bit annoying. Secondly, the randomized nature of this game left me feeling like I didn’t have the proper resources to deal with customers at times. This may just be a skill issue though lol

Overall, though, great job!

I’ve seen a lot of jam entries where the whole gimmick is “control this rotating object”, and personally, this is by far my favorite. A simple concept + wonderful level design + great art direction will forever be a winning formula haha

Really unique idea with a wonderful execution! There’s a surprising amount of strategy here. I think it just needs some type of roguelike structure and it’ll have some serious player staying power!

This game made me quite dizzy, but the concept is very cool! Simple yet infinitely expressible!

I just replayed this one and feel really silly about how buggy it is too lol. Not sure how we didn’t get around to sufficiently testing it, but hopefully not too many people get frustrated with it. Sorry about that!

The concept of having the player create a looping animation as a way to fit the jam’s theme is genuinely very clever, and the game’s art to go alongside it is stunning!

Loved the item variation and combo/synergy potential; it genuinely made me draft up and iterate over a long-term strategy, which is not something I usually expect from jam games haha. Great work!