Episode Eighteen
Two distinct art directions for the games games this week. Slime project was a beautiful and mysterious spectacle while spud customs was just too freaking funny to really think. How serious can I really be giving feedback to a potato border crossing?
This weeks games;
- Spud Customs - By BroHeart
- Slime Project - By Hamantha
Spud Customs #
Play demo on itch | buy it on steam | Source On Github | Game Dev Stream
Forced to serve as a border officer, you inspect documents and decide the fate of potatoes. Very high stakes. The concept of this game is to pay attention to details. Potatoes hand you documents and it is your job to make sure they match. If they do not match... BANISHED to a stew! (not really).
Custom graphics and gameplay in this game jam game. It was built over a weekend and then a round of bug fixes for another game jam. Given the completeness of it I decided to escalate it beyond the game jam review format. Turns out I was right because the game was pushed to steam recently! Huzzah!
The Good
The whole picture for this one felt complete. Between the custom graphics, UX and the the gameplay loop it all felt tied together nicely. It felt kinda dark... depressed and destitute potatoes seeking a better life. Hilarious.
I was able to figure out the game with zero tutorial or much info. That's always a testiment to game design when players are able to progress with only a little direction. Rules were simple, UX was (mostly) clear and concise.
Boy howdy, there were some really good details for this one. Beyond the nice pixelated aesthetic, there was fantastic sound. The music was somber and matched nicely. The little sounds between opening the passport to the stamps and the little potato language added a lot to the immersion.
The Bad
The one comment on the UX; explaining the rules was a little odd. I understand the themetic nature of the note on the desk but it felt a little distracting. I think a less verbose, more informative set of rules for which potatoes to let in or not would be a great addition.
The one comment on the aesthetic was the stamp felt too crisp. The rest of the assets were pixelated a certain way and the stamp was not. I think revisiting this to not stand out too much would really complete the art direction. Also, the shadow was not right. Either change the "picked up" indicator or study some shadows to get a better idea of what it would look like.
The Ugly
Initially I didn't file anything under the "game breaking uglyness" category. I think the one thing I noticed is I didn't really understand some of the reasons for rejection/approval. When a player fails a check the game needs to make it clear why they failed. Correcting a players error clearly would go a long way.
Conclusion
Overall this was a very solid base for a game to do a full release. I am not surprised these two were able to take it further and release on steam. I think this game jam was quite impressive for such a quick turn around.
Love to see game jam game's make it up on steam! Great job broheart! It looks like there has been even more features / details added to the game. THE POTATOES HAVE EYES NOW!! Also I guess you get to blow them up? Sounds like it is very much worth checking out. If you like the demo, you can pick up a copy for just $4.99!
Slime Project #
Slime project was an interesting game to me. You are spawned into a very beautiful world to explore and find slimes! I didn't really know what the purpose was going in and it took a bit to grasp. Eventually I found puzzles and the slimes!
The Good
It is important to note that everything but the audio was made by Hamantha. First of all, the handle is also good. I really liked the world that was built. I had fun just exploring without knowing what I was doing!
The colors were brilliant and well done.
The Bad
When I do these demos I am a captive audience. I have committed to the game and will continue playing for 20-25 minutes. I believe other players, who aren't enamored with the world, will not make it that far. SOME kind of prompting / waypoints would be the next thing to add.
The Ugly
Beyond that there just needs to be more. The world is beautiful, the slimes are cool, it's time to add more content. More puzzles, more slimes, bigger world. I think this type of game definitely has an audience. A relaxed, chill experience where you explore and find slimes. Totally get it... GO MAKE THE GOOD VERSION OF IT!!
Conclusion
This is a side project for Hamantha. It is very hard to be consistent and show up every day after a day of work and grind away at a passion project. Trust me, I've been procrastinating showing up for this blog post for weeks...
I see the vision here, it just needs more. I am very interested to see how this progresses as I really enjoyed this world.
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