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Scringlo Goes to Work's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Artwork | #231 | 4.429 | 4.429 |
| Narrative | #359 | 3.786 | 3.786 |
| Enjoyment | #1153 | 3.643 | 3.643 |
| Audio | #1245 | 3.446 | 3.446 |
| Creativity | #3249 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
Ranked from 56 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Repeating days. Each day adds new tasks for the player to complete.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
See description for full credits
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
sofeeicedtea, Blast, Luicel
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Comments
scringlo mvp best boy
Really love the style. I'll echo the other posts about the time limits being a bit too much at the start, but the overall concept is well executed. Thanks :D
LOVE the art in this game, it is amazing. The take on the loop idea where each time there is more to do is very nice, I found myself getting invested in doing everything as efficiently as possible haha
Such a nice, grungy vibe I'm in love with this game!
This game has fantastic vibes! Great character designs, animation, beautiful background, and fun music! All the different tasks are really great as well.
I read below you're making a post game patch: I was suggest adding a little more time to each day. This is a really hard game for a jam where you want to aim for the easier end of the scale. I'd also suggest for the electrical wire puzzle to let the players be able to drag from right to left. I tried that a few times but it seems like it only works left to right.
Awesome job!
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 think a blanket ten seconds would be a good start! It needs to be play tested with some players who aren't familiar with the game. The wall for me was the day I had to do the newspaper, electrical wiring, wallet, pet 5 dogs, and catch a fish. I left delivering the newspaper for last since it seemed like that was the best place to end to prevent backtracking, but I wonder if I should have done the fishing corner last.
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!
I think we just found the problem: I didn't know you could run. I opened the game up again and sure enough it's right there in the controls but I don't think I was using it. :) I did consult the maps though since they were on your way to objectives! I'd tap it quick to make sure I was going in the right direction.
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 an improvement! I think bringing more attention to the buttons and important words is subtle but helpful.
If you find players aren't using the run button to be a common issue, I think an elegant solution that's a tiny bit of work would be to pop the run button tutorial widget up again if the player isn't using it. Something like keep an integer counting how many times the shift button has been pressed, or how long it's been held down. If it hasn't been pressed more than 5 or so times, or held down more than 30 or so seconds on day 2 or 3 have the run tutorial appear again.
I really appreciate how in depth your going looking for feedback and solutions to these issues. It's clear you care a lot!
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
I like your suggestion for detecting when to pop up better. Definitely try that.
If you want players actively pressing the run button, you need to make running feel good. Not just speed, but juice. Meaty footstep sound effects, visual effects like tiny speed lines, a slight shift in field of view on the camera. Adjustments to game feel like that go a long way. Some games sprint function isn't actually any faster at all, they just trick you. I think Mass Effect's sprint in the Citadel was just that. You moved at the same speed, but it felt faster.
You're welcome for the feedback! I try to give good in depth actionable feedback because that's exactly the kind of feedback I would want on my games. I don't get to review as many games this way, but I think giving better feedback is worth it.
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!
The animations in this game are abso-frickin-lutely delightful. A serious treat for my eyeballs that I thank you for. I wish I'd had just like... ten more seconds in each mission haha, I feel like I can never get anywhere fast enough!
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!
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!
There was a run button?? Yeah that uh. That would have changed my experience quite a bit to have been made aware of, I was walking everywhere!
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?
Yes, all of the above would have made a huge difference! That all feels like exactly the right fix for the rough start that I had that stopped me from getting too far into the game.
Top marks for enjoyment. I felt stressed out and like a multitasking wizard at the same time. The art and narrative are very fun. The game over sequence also always get me, its so funny
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!
Ah great question! I think as a couple other players, I had some trouble in the beginning finding the news paper and where to deliver it to. So I got fired a bunch of times in the beginning. But that was fine. After that it was relatively smooth sailing from there. Apart from the fruit stand puzzle which I had to look up in the description, I think I only got fired one other time because I wasn't fast enough. So for me the pace and time limits worked very well. What might have been helpful for me, would be for the dogs (and in general) to have a slightly bigger interaction area and a visual feedback that an interaction has been successful. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I actually interacted with an "item" or not.
Other than that... no complaints!
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?
yes, I knew about running. Actually while playing I was wondering why you’d ever do anything BUT run. I think if there is no interaction that requires walking normally, the running should be default movement without having to press an additional button. That’s at least my opinion :D
Cool game , loved tha art and the music , the idea is smart but maybe needed more time overall decent game loved it
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)
more time for tasks i meant , maybe it is part of the game to be hard but it is no big deal i still enjoyed it
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 agree at first i didn't see the timer at all , makeing level one as a trainig is helpful but keep the game hard , like just add 5 seconds of time on each level or make an easy mode with more time , once i lost for just 1 second so the 5 second addition will be helpful
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!
i was aware of the run button without it , it is impossibal to win , but i waste like the first secondes to look at tha map and see where the tasks are so i lose when i just needed 2 secondes left
The first thing I noticed about this game was how great the animation was. The first day was a bit rough but after that I had a blast trying to figure out how to get everything done in time.
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?
first day i had to retry but after that it was smooooth sailing. the charm oozing out made it a joy to play
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?
you could do but also it's no big deal to struggle on the first day really. i suppose the only real issue was finding where the newspaper and bob were when they're the only 2 things on the map.
I'm getting fired a lot in the gamejam games this year T_T
I wish the timer were a bit more forgiving for the first day. My first run, I was fired before I even realized there was a timer. But maybe that would defeat the point. Anyway, loved that one, fun and cute. Losing animation is my favorite
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?
Hell yeaa
I had no issues with the fruit stand as other people mentioned but my pinkie did suffer😂
Super cool game and nice art! Good job
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?
Poor Scringlo, it’s so much fun watching you get fired! D:
Cool game. I really like the artstyle, and the music.
Funny art style! I really like the way character bounces around in the menu. And is this the way you help grandma cross the road hahaha
i LOVED the art on this. characters are gorgeous. the animation is beautifully limited and so effective. gameplay wise i was a bit confused to begin with, but it made sense the more i played. well done!
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!
of course, sorry I wasn't more specific! the part i struggled with in the beginning was specifically the map - the tasks could be signposted clearer. also, i found that the only way to make the tasks on time was to continuously hold down sprint - so if that's the case, maybe just have sprint be the default movement speed? finally 30 secs for the first day is way too tight imo. the player is just getting their bearings with moving and figuring out what they're supposed to do, what kind of game this is - maybe a minute would be a bit more appropriate?
hope that helps!
Honestly, I really enjoyed this one. The idea is simple but well executed with really cute visuals and a funny little narrative. Moreover, it's surprisingly well balanced : it's stressful but it never feels impossible. Overall, despite a few issues like in the fruit stand, and despite the music being a little repetitive, this is a really good experience and I truly enjoyed playing it. Congratulation to the developer !
Adore the art of this honestly. It's so freaking cute. Got trapped in sorting the fruit but was really enjoying it up until then!
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!
Oh I saw the video! I tried to drag them into the lil' slots and they disappeared so like... I thought I'd solved it LOL
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.
I think the color might help. Right now it makes me think of "the square hole" if you know what I mean. Additionally maybe having the fruits store the last "position" they were at on the stand, so that if they're dragged somewhere off of the stand they just snap back there (I ended up with that logic for my game and I felt it worked nicely to prevent
stupid playersunintended issues)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!
Planning your days as the tasks increase is a nice challenge. It would be nice to have a bit more map stations around though.
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!
Somewhere near the guy who wants the paper. Finish and objective and then check the map as a reminder to what's next.
Makes sense! I’ve gone ahead and added a map near there for the post-jam update. Thank you!
Cute! Took me multiple tries to get through day one, then barely lost day 4 and rage-quit, but I quite enjoyed the game. Well done!
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!