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Digital Artifacts: A Tileswap Jigsaw Game's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Devlog consistency | #13 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Overall | #23 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Overall progress | #27 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Devlog clarity | #35 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 4 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
This was a lot of fun. I completely all the puzzles on normal difficulty. I will admit that I did take advantage of the pieces lighting up when placed in the right spot a few times when I got stuck, particularly on some of the puzzles where the colors were very close to each other. I liked that you had the option to show the borders and incorrect tile rims, but that they were off by default. The other menu options were nice to have as well.
On the puzzle "mandelbrot adjacent", when the menu was open I couldn't see all of the puzzle. I hadn't realized this at first, so was very confused as to why the picture wasn't matching up right. You may want to scale the image down when the menu is open, particular on some of the wider puzzles.
I was amused that the "You Win" was not the final puzzle. When I solved it, I got the "You did it. Every. Puzzle. Complete." text, even though I still had more puzzles left.
I played this in two sittings. I did all the puzzles that were there yesterday, opened it up today to write my review to find new puzzles (yay!), and went through the new ones. As such, it's a little harder to be certain on the difficulty progression, but overall I think it was alright. There were a few of the later puzzles that I found easier than a few of the earlier one, though I think it was as much the fact that certain pictures simply made more sense in my head than others. I like that completing a puzzle unlocked more than just the next one, because it allows for folks to skip one that just isn't clicking for them.
I really enjoyed playing this and will likely come back to see if you add any more images in the future.
awesome and thanks for the detailed feedback. I like putting an occasional easier puzzle in later on just so it doesn't get to be punishing. also who knows what easy is to each person, eh? what did you think about the puzzles post "you win" screen? those were "maybe this is too hard to be fun" choices I would have left on the cutting room floor except for the idea of having them all unlock as soon as you "win" .
thanks for pointing out the puzzle being overlapped. will look into that. maybe some unnecessary flavor text was left in. scaling is a good solution tho.
I enjoyed all the ones after the "you win" one. I found them challenging in a fun way. I think the hardest one was the cat. I went into it thinking it would be an easier one and was delightfully surprised at the challenge. Unlocking new, harder levels after completing the base game makes sense, though I wonder if you want to have the 'you did it' there include a comment about beating the base game and unlocking bonus challenge levels.
Puzzle games are some of my favorite types of games, and I like these type of pictures, so even the harder puzzles were a lot of fun for me.
I completed through #6, though that one was tough for me to picture in my mind and predict things ahead of time. It required a lot more experimenting with different pieces until I found one that I could place. I mostly did dragging, though realized that there were a few times that a direct swap would have been better. The designs were neat, though could be challenging. The flash when you get a piece into the correct position is convenient. The level progression feels challenging, but reasonable. The options in the menu are nice to have. Overall a decent puzzle game.
Thanks for the detailed feedback. would you have prefered #6 (the first mandelbrot fractal, correct?) be later or not at all? difficult progression is hard got get right in puzzle games, esp. when they are on the casual side.
Yes, the 1st Mandelbrot. I'm fine with it where it was. I think it was just the way my mind was processing the image. It was a challenge, but the systems in place gave enough freedom and aid to allow players to work with it at their own level, and to skip past it if needed. If not for the aids, and being able to skip, then it might be to tough and stop some players. If you add more puzzles, then I could see adding more earlier and building up more slowly to it, but with what is there it felt fine.
thanks for the clarification. I did try to make the skipping generous. I'm also thinking of having "bonus" levels that all unlock simultaneously when you get to level 20 which is probably the "end".
loving the challenge the movement gives, very engaging and relaxing!
The depth on some of the pictures really captivated me ! stuck on puzzle 5!
Awesome! yes, 5 is a big step up in difficulty, no doubt. it's easier if you leave the red "incorrect placement" option off.
here are some feature suggestions :
puzzles don't reset when game is being played .
maybe free movement with tiles mode? scrambling pieces to sift through.
pieces are animated/live moving.
>puzzles don't reset when game is being played .
? not sure what you mean, maybe you found a bug
> maybe free movement with tiles mode? scrambling pieces to sift through.
as opposed to swapping you mean?
> pieces are animated/live moving.
I've played some games like that, it can be pretty distracting.
scrambling pieces to sift through.
as opposed to swapping you mean?
yes!
? not sure what you mean, maybe you found a bug
when i hit save and went to menu and tried to click back in to resume level 6 the circles it reset the tiles.
I've played some games like that, it can be pretty distracting.
now i agree with this making a new type of pulsing animation to where it is engaging instead of distracting like other games, i really like how the grid works to move tiles . give a interesting puzzle to solve have to move in just the right places.
I did a brief test with a version that's on itch IO and the following sequence worked for me. Move some tiles into a recognizable location. Hit save . Hit quit and go back to main menu. Select same puzzle again hit restore . Did you take some other sequence?
very well could of been im sorry ,was tired after second job lol
for adding user music could there be a youtube link call safe to put in a youtube playlist ?
note that the game is live now.
dev log https://alanrobinsondev.itch.io/digital-artifacts-a-tileswap-puzzle-game/devlog