I just saw the stream VOD, I had no idea Bauske played mine on stream too! The issue with my game was definitely that I failed to convey to the player that they could strategically turn the vehicle on/off to conserve gas using UP on the D-Pad. It's both possible to turn the vehicle off while waiting for your next destination to be given, and also coast a little bit on your decelerations by turning the vehicle on and off. Definitely should've clarified that in-game!
Try not to over think it too much. Game jams are a great way to test out creative ideas. The challenge of working within a timeframe and set limits has us all knowing we could improve our games. I guess that’s why it’s a great idea to join. The feedback good or bad is valuable - especially if you want to eventually release your game. By the way I thought your game was really fun to play.
Yeah, I tried to play through all of them because I really liked what people created! I enjoyed yours a lot, even though it was tough because I didn't know about that trick LOL. That would have made it a lot easier!
Again I didn't do my due diligence and read the actual game pages for each submission. Because of the way the jam laid things out, it just allowed me to download games from the jam entry page and not the actual game's page itself, so half the time I just downloaded them without seeing the full descriptions, which I realize now is a dumb thing. Still, I do think it's good to have instructions in game for any techniques that may not be obvious, especially since these will hopefully all be on Clickteam's app compilation, and users of that certainly won't be going to the Itch.io pages for more info.
Yeah, big oversight on my part. I should've explained that mechanic. I think I didn't because the gas mechanic was the second to last thing I added in the game, so the dialogue and text functions were already written and done at that point. I definitely should've went back and refined it in hindsight! Another thing I've seen is that people have had a hard time navigating the open world map effenciently. Since I designed the map, I innately knew where things were, so I was almost always able to take a perfect route - and I think I might've used those trials to determine the gas depletion rate. Another oversight on my part!
Wait. You streamed ALL the games?! Woah!
One video later...
Whether you get this or not, I have taken some notes on the video and would love to share my thoughts (without major spoilers for anyone else reading, of course).
The controller instruction screen: You really liked this detail. I can only imagine it’s partly by most contestants using the profile page as an instruction manual. However, I felt like that would be lost on people if it’s on an app. So that’s why I made mine with a brief built-in set of instructions. Guess that bit of forward-thinking was a good call!
You testing the weapons: The ‘Mace’ (Technically a 'Morningstar', but that was too long to write for the screen) rapidly resets like that due to a last-minute tweak. I didn’t want the projectile weapons to feel like they needed to be pressed for each shot. The change made it so players can hold it down for extra fire… All weapons share that same code execution, which means all weapons can be used like that. I consider this a ‘happy little accident’, but it will be noted for future game designs.
Boss #1: Your comment "He always gets me" made me chuckle. This boss becomes great at aiming because I wanted a 'gamer check'. If a player can't beat the first boss, they have no chance against the other bosses. You honestly did great against the boss! I am also happy this boss works as intended.
Boss #2: The 'Bow and Arrow' weapon is designed to be the weakest in the game. You were determined to use only that against the boss with the most developer bugs. My hat's off to you for your determination. You have no idea how much I was saying to myself "Please use a different weapon for that boss! ANY other weapon!" However, you helped me discover yet another bug with this blasted boss. The error lies where the boss spits-up. The area hurts players, when there’s nothing visibly there… O_O; Whoops! It's only one line of code to fix, at least. Good to know for the future!
Boss #3: You breezed through (What I believed to be) the nastiest boss to fight in this game. With the right weapon and player actions, as well! You'd make a great game tester, if you have the desire for that. This boss also worked as intended. Hooray!
Boss #4: You were half of the way thought the fight before you gave up on the final boss! There was a minor bug he did in your gameplay (He looked scared when you briefly changed screens then came back), but I consider this to also be a 'happy little accident'. While I'm writing this, you missed one of the funniest details of my game. Allow me to point it out: The title's number goes up by one whenever the player wins or gets defeated. Why? Simply put, the previous duty is now done. As such, you can start the 'next' duty... Curious that the game begins with the number 256, eh? That's a different story. Perhaps you (or the current reader) can figure that out. XP
Thank you for playing and helping me be become a better game maker, Bauske! Whether anyone tries it or not, I will update the game sometime after the results are in. <|:)
Awesome feedback! I really did enjoy your game. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it, but as I played it I could definitely tell you put a lot of thought into this little boss rush. I think the only reason I didn't finish it was because it suffered the same issue as SkullZ did, which is that if you died, you had to start all over. Normally not a big deal, and I don't think that'll be a concern for people playing it on their own time, but as I was trying to get through each and every game, I had to pick points where I said "Okay, on to the next one".
Putting the instructions in the game was a smart move, I think. As these entries will be put into a compilation by Clickteam, I had the same thoughts as well that people may not have access to the game description pages. I think it's a good decision.
I'm glad you enjoyed the playthrough. I've learned from my experience with game dev that watching other people play your own creations is the best way to get feedback on it. For Boogs 'N Beans, I gave an early version to friends on Discord and had them stream it so I could watch their experience. It's an amazing way to get that real-time feedback, so I wanted to sort of share that with everyone's entries for the game jam too, and I'm glad people got to see it!
You really made such a cute little game here and you should be proud of it. One of my favs in the jam. And I did not, in fact, notice the counter with the 256. I'm going to have to go back and have a look at that and see if I can actually beat the final boss!
I thought about having playtests with other people. Unfortunately I was a bit short on time and did some small personal tests instead. Let's just say the bulk of this game was made in roughly 1.5 weeks. It's a long story, but I think I should save it for a "behind the scenes" video I could make down the road. ;3
For what my game is, I am disappointed that it's nothing like what I originally planned. It's a feeling I think a lot of artists, game designers and more share. However I am happy it was made in time and (mostly) functioning as I would like! The fact a person streamed the game and a few actually enjoyed my game just makes this game-jam more special to me. The originally trashed outlook I feared for it became treasure I cherish. That's incredible in its own way.
Since you seem genuinely interested in another try, I have just updated the "BossFix" mfa file. It has the phantom pain in Boss #2 removed. The rest is the same as before, "happy little accidents" and all! Enjoy, if you wish to play and once again thank you for your kind words. You, as well as others here, made this witch smile. c:|>
I didn't even know Bauske streamed at all! I made the music for Super Cool Guy Micro and I watched the point of the VOD where he started playing Super Cool Guy Micro and he set the jukebox to the shortest and probably worst track in the game lol. The game is definitely jank though to be fair, definitely right on that