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Disconnected's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art Direction | #14 | 4.259 | 4.259 |
| Overall | #156 | 3.252 | 3.252 |
| Theme | #186 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Game Design | #216 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Fun | #244 | 2.852 | 2.852 |
| Innovation | #265 | 2.815 | 2.815 |
Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
The art direction is fantastic. With some post-jam polish and further development, this could be a marketable steam game. Nicely done.
The art style was unique but also limiting. When everything is 2 colours, distinguishing features like the recharge station is more challenging.
Video Commentary:
I am terribly sorry for your experience :((
Great game! I really loved the graphics and the style you went with it, it all felt pretty polished and had a cool look to it. You mention level design being one of your lesser skills in the description, but I actually found the design of the levels to be pretty neat. It was fun and a cool experience to have so many alleys and buildings to run around while running from all the ghosts. Other than the bugs you already mentioned in the description, I think my main problem was with how slow the intro is. But other than that, I really liked this game. Nicely done!
I can't believe I actually played this.
I take back what I said about the chromatic aberration in the call. It actually makes more sense when you play it yourself.
Now for the criticisms.
For the minor nitpicks
- Enemies targeting you should look a bit different. Maybe make them show the green-purple color only when they are targeting you.
- Right click would've been a better choice for the hold up phone button. Also, you should be able to press Escape to get out of the phone.
For the more major feedbacks
Right now, there isn't much of an enjoyable challenge, only a tedious quest to go through. Finding a single door in each alleyway isn't fun. The phone battery countdown doesn't really give the player much tension. Electric chargers can be easily found and doesn't run out, so you can just camp near them. Which means, enemies could be easily killed safely if you play it boringly and just lure them to kill one by one. This basically means that the game design doesn't really encourage the player to do anything fun .
Overall, the game felt aimless with its design. There are many ways to fix this problem. Maybe give the player a sense of progress. For example, let them tackle some unique enemies guarding electric chargers. It would serve as a kind of, "checkpoint", for both the game state and the player's safe zone. You could even add some powerups each one. With the level design, build up some expectation for the door. The door could be still ambiguous, but maybe have the area closer to it have some harder enemies, and give the player some sense of progress. The game loop shouldn't feel the same the entire experience.
Please don't take this comment too literally. These are just my suggestions to give you a vague idea of what I think could improve the game. I would suggest analyzing the games you enjoy and see what they do. I really want to see the game design do your art justice.
Well I found a Penguin and your bird icon, so all but the door. There wasn't anything really challenging but finding the door. Good art. how many ester-eggs did you hide?
boutiful
I love the art style. More time on the game design would have been nice but I'm jealous at how people can be so creative art wise. I feel like the connection to the theme could have been made stronger as well. The intro was really well done though!
Game looks great, I can see that you 've thrown a lot of work. I have two notes for future updates, some kind of indicator for where the door is, like hidden stuff etc. and a better enemy agro, the moment I exited the park I saw an army of ghosts waiting to drain my energy. Great job!
The game looks very original, I like the style. The music is upbeat.
But the shooter part is not clear to me - the enemies are too slow, aiming at them is not difficult, there is no threat from them. Therefore, it only delays the gameplay, as well as too long charging stations.
And the sad part is - I couldn't find my door. Only some hooligan graffiti on one of the walls, as well as an empty park.
In a word, the art design is definitely a plus, but the rest is worth trying to improve. So keep going!
I am both thankful and sorry to hear that haha, I am mainly a programmer and have never touched enemy designs and level design, but I am working on improving those aspects :D. I would be thankful if you could point out how I could improve the interaction with the enemies :D.
oops, that was awkward.
It seems to me that you first need to decide what exactly you want to get in the end.
If this is a shooter, then you need to think about the behavior of enemies. Let them be faster, more aggressive. Let our hero try by sound to understand from which side the enemy is approaching him and constantly turn his head in search of an approaching target. Take your favorite game in this genre and try to implement the approximate behavior patterns of a pair of opponents, to understand what makes the game interesting with them.
And of course, in this case, it is worth experimenting with the mechanics of weapons. Maybe it will shoot quickly, but then it will take time to "cool down". Maybe on the contrary, it will gradually shoot faster and more accurately, but spend more and more charge.
All this should be related to the mechanics that are implemented by the enemies. If there are a lot of them and they run in a horde, and we decided that the weapon will shoot quickly, but cool down for a long time, then this very "long" should not become fatal for the player, but strain him enough to make him worry about timings.
If this is still more of a wander-search, tied up at recharging stations and searches, then it would be great to make the sections of the levels more colorful, so that one block of houses differs from the others in details - there are only one-story buildings, here the windows are completely broken, here there is graffiti on the walls. This will make it easier for the player to understand what area he is in and whether he has explored it. It is possible to add bonuses in the form of hidden resources - markers that immediately mark the doors of the quarter as incorrect, a power bank that temporarily increases the maximum charge of the phone, a flare, the illumination of a charging station in the area.
In fact, there can be a lot of ideas. And you should just prioritize "what the project should be" first. Then make the most basic idea simple but fun mechanics. Don't be afraid to experiment with it. It is during the game jam that you need to drive at full speed. But now you have time to try different approaches. Always ask yourself "what if" and "what do I like about other similar games" - don't be afraid to "plagiarize" anything. Everything you can think of has already been done before you in one way or another, the only question is what ideas you choose and how well you implement them. And here, if you are a programmer first of all, there is just an opportunity to shine and make a well-functioning technical part.
I am very thankful for that amazing feedback and explenation. I will think about the things you said and try out other stuff. :D
then good luck to you and keep coding!
Unique and appealing visuals, and loving the phone menu. I believe you made a charging station? Sadly I couldn't find it... I desperately needed it as the cultists were so overwhelming lol. I'd like to be able to finish the game, just need the help as I couldn't figure out what door or how different the door should be. Got any hints?
I am thankful that you played my game despite it being as it is, as for the hint I would suggest paying extra close attention to the colours :)
the art style is incredible, i love all the graphics and assets, congratulations!
The art style and direction for this game is outstanding, gameplay was both fun and innovative.
loved the game and the art, however didn't get audio, and couldn't turn around... also got spammed with warnings that the game could be dangerous for my pc XD
it was truly awsome, thank you!
Surprisingly fun for what it is. Great art, funky effect overlay. Controls are fine and the game menu built into the phone is genius.
Great visuals and whacky fun! Meets the theme well and the mobile being weapon is really fun!
The art + music makes this such a great entry! Great work!
The art + music makes this such a great entry! Great work!
Very cool prototype, a few bugs but could become something special!
Very cool prototype, a few bugs but could become something special!
Really nice job. I love the artstyle, this 2D/3D mix is really great.
Gameplay wise, there's a few bugs still there, which make it hard to play. Once you're stuck in a charging station with an enemy around, the game is pretty much over.
Still, some more polish on those aspects, and it's a really great entry.