itch.io

Viability:

• This is a full experience with a defined beginning and end, yippee!!

Presentation:

• The controls are presented clearly. I don't mind that they're literally pasted in front of you at all, I just like that they're part of the game. The rules, or the win condition, are also presented well. They're told to you by a character in an in-game context. It's not just information for the player, but the character you're playing as.
• The "Options" and "Quit" buttons on the start screen seem a bit pointless though, because there are no settings or somewhere to "quit" to. I feel like if there are no plans to add anything, you should just not have them.

Theme:

• The visuals and sounds work together really well. I like how most elements of the game have sounds, from a background track to NPC speaking voices, and the implementation of a jump scare. However, the collecting of a coin doesn't have a sound, and I think that's pretty important when it's directly tied to the main goal of the game (and also when everything else has sound).
• Even if there are no stakes, I enjoyed/was curious throughout the experience for the aesthetics. The visual style is really awesome, the pixel art is beautiful, fun, and just super cool.
• Your game page is also fully customized, that's super great.

Engagement:

• I think this game is engaging, the designs of the NPCs are all really interesting, and I enjoy how they're all different (different creatures, or just some guys). I was always interested in who I would meet next.
• I do wish that maybe there was more to the gameplay than running into the coins. Maybe a little bit of platforming? Or like a button/lever puzzle or something, it can be super basic. The atmosphere you've created is already very curious and foreboding, so making the player the responsibility of noticing something in their limited view would give them more to do, make it more engaging, and make the environment more immersive.
• You technically don't need to talk to any of the NPCs and can just walk into the coins to collect them, which can be disengaging. If there's a way to make the player need to talk to the NPCs to make the coin appear, and also maybe make a correct choice in dialogue (but I know that's pretty extra), I think that would be beneficial by making the player need to engage with them.

Viability:

• Definitely playable from beginning to end(s)
• There aren't many mechanics (which isn't a bad thing at all), so the game's features work together easily

Presentation:

• Rules/objectives/choices are presented clearly
• I think it'd be a more effective use of space to have the text below the illustrations instead of over them, so we can read the text more easily and also see the cool illustrations more clearly :3
• There were some instances of the text and background being the same value or saturation level, so it was sometimes hard to read the text (for example, in the grocery path, there's a point where there's blue text over the bright pink background).
• I recommend changing the color of the text options, for both before you select and also after you've selected it (and are looking at a choice you've already made). This would help with the overall cohesion of your visual presentation.
• Proofreading may also be a good idea. Correcting grammar and punctuation mistakes would also help with the game's presentation and immersion.
• Extra thing: there's an evil pink error box on the "Game Over" screen when you choose to help your neighbor

Theme:

• Aesthetics and themes are defined by the unique visuals (colors and overall style) and the sense of humor in the writing
• I was waiting for the ending where I actually got my chores done lol, I genuinely think it's great that it never happens (cuz clearly there's more interesting stuff going on)
• This game has a lot of character. And when a game has charm and character, it's more enjoyable to play and more memorable afterwards.

Engagement:

• The strange, random, and relatable scenarios were all consistently inconsistent and unpredictable, and that, combined with the game's humor, made me interested in finding out what would happen next/what could possibly happen.
• The quick completion time for each route and the quick restarts make the game more engaging. It encourages the player to keep going and discover a new route or create a diverging one in the route they just took.

Awesome game yippee 🧃🐸🌸

Viability:

• I'm not sure if the game is playable until the end? There was a point where I got to the white rectangles that couldn't be shot down after I tried for a bit, I noticed that they're destroyed when enemies touch them. For the first couple of those white rectangle parts, I had to wait around for the enemy to show up and destroy that obstacle to make progress. That didn't work consistently, because it got to a point where there were no enemies around to follow the player and destroy the blockade. This sounds like a relatively easy fix though (I hope)!

Presentation:

• Unless I'm missing something about those white rectangles, then the rules are very straightforward! Moving around is easy, but backtracking to give yourself space to shoot the monsters was a little tricky though, since the direction the player faces is the direction they're moving in. I don't know how important it is for the movement to be oriented to the direction like that, since the game is always moving to the right, there really isn't a need to face the other way. That could just be a me-problem though.

* The kind of movement/direction controls I'm thinking of that fit here are the Classic Mode End Credit minigame from Smash Ultimate (maybe take a look?) The game moves exclusively in a single direction, it never turns around. And backtracking is still possible, maybe even easier.

Theme:

• Theme/aesthetic is very clear and very cool to look at! While the concept is simple, I think it's effective anyway because the emphasis is on the gameplay.

Engagement:

• I think the game is engaging, and your theme really helped capture my attention. The challenge was easy cuz you can hold the spacebar down to keep shooting, so if you positioned yourself correctly you don't need to worry about the enemies. However, I had fun doing that because it was funny when they didn't stand a chance >:)

Viability:

• Game is playable from beginning to end! I wish it more clear, maybe just with some text describing the controls, and also to indicate that you've reached the end of what the game has to offer. All the elements are standard and work together, so it's easy to pick up!

Presentation:

• Outside of the game, the rules are understandable because you've said so separately. Inside the game, not quite. The elements are well-made, movement is easy and feels natural, albeit maybe a little too floaty, but I know that's the nature of the engine we're using!

Engagement:

• Having the theme (see below) will definitely help with engagement. I think the level design is successful, not too long, and the overall layout has good flow to it! Experimenting with scale (specifically making things bigger/giving more space) would be interesting.

Theme:

• Once again, outside of the game, the projected aesthetic is clear. Inside, not really. The experience would be enhanced greatly with some art, a defining aesthetic is necessary I think. In terms of theme, that doesn't really seem like it matters with the premise, which is fine but also depends on what your intention is.

Viability: Playable from beginning to end. Sometimes I feel like choices don't really matter though, that the player doesn't really have as much agency as they should in some places. A few paths always go back to a beginning one, so it can become a sort of process-of-elimination-type-thing until you inevitably pick the correct choice.

Presentation: I think ingraining the passages into the main text in some places would make for a clearer presentation, and also checking to make sure things are spaced out far enough for them to be more visible/easier to look at/see.

Engagement: I thought it was engaging! The characters are very charming, and there's a lot of personality to them. I was always curious about what would come next!

Theme: Is clear! I enjoy the overall sense of humor in the writing, too. Maybe something to consider would be experimenting more with the colors? The high saturation seems a bit disconnected from the nature of the adventure (but take this with a grain of salt cuz that could very well be a personal thing). Also having the Guide as something automatically shown would be helpful? Cuz it seems like important information that helps the player understand how the game works. Especially since it's only one page, so it's not like it'd be a hassle to click through it.

Viability: Playable from beginning to end! All the story events make sense and go well together. There are times where I feel the game is a bit too easy, sort of. Like, I tried just clicking through each option as fast as I could without worrying about what I was actually choosing and it worked well every time. So it kind of feels like choices don't really matter as much as they should? Maybe giving demerits to HP more weight would remedy it. I think it would be cool to know that the seeing the Game Over screen was (more) possible.

Engagement: I think the duration of the game is just about right! Not too long for me to get bored of reading, and not too short for me to think it needs more content. The replayability only helps this idea, too.

Theme: The art and colors and fonts all go well together, very cohesive! It looks amazing.

Presentation: The ticking-down HP was a bit iffy though, because sometimes it's showing and sometimes it's not, so I think I have time to make choices when I actually don't, and I lose HP without knowing I did. So showing that would really help. Otherwise, I really enjoy the application of time with the presentation of text, it helps with the humor in some cases, as well as the intensity in others.

Viability: There is a defined beginning and end, and I like having the option to restart to try something different. I agree with the comment talking about how having the affection show up as a number sort of taking me out of the immersion, so written descriptions of the griffin's reactions to your actions would be cool, so you have a feeling on whether or not you're doing well, without having to be explicitly told.

Presentation: I'm not sure if having the action options pop up after the main text does any favors? I think it's fine to have all the text show up together. Overall I think having more dialogue would be beneficial, for the sake of overall storytelling and immersion, and also for us to get to know the griffin we're making friends with.

Theme: is very clear! I think the color palette for the most part works well, I personally would change the border color from a gray (which is a very similar value to the teal) to something else (maybe a much darker version of that teal, just as an example, any significant change in value, lighter or darker, I think would look better). Also changing the color of the hover text would be good to do too! I also think it'd be good to add more dialogue elaborating on the griffin altogether, how it looks, the actions it performs, how it's feeling, etc., so we feel a more personal/realistic connection to the creature we are supposed to want to help. But overall I think the theme is very sweet :)

Engagement: I think having more options, and more text (exposition, more vivid descriptions of the environment and situation) would help with overall attention-keeping and replayability (a curiosity to *want* to get more endings).