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A jam submission

PapoGatoView game page

You're a cat in a bathroom with some juicy toilet paper waiting to be pulled
Submitted by TomatoToaster — 13 hours, 29 minutes before the deadline
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PapoGato's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#83.9383.938
Gameplay/Design#93.9173.917
Graphics#104.1674.167
Fun#103.7503.750
Audio#133.9173.917

Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

What would you like feedback on?
- Whether the game is fun.
- If any of the UI is confusing.
- What part of the art you'd like to see more polish in.
- If you made it past level 5+ in Arcade Mode, what kept you playing, and if not, what part was frustrating and made you stop
- If the controls feel intuitive (also let me know if you're playing with standard mouse, trackpad, or mobile)

What did you update?
Added and fleshed out the new main way to play: Arcade Mode which turns this game from a simple swiping and counting game, to a strategy roguelite type.

I added a bunch to make that happen, but the devlogs from 1.0.1-1.0.3 explain all the changes more precisely.

You can find and play the original GMTK Jam submission in the description if you want to compare it.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Pretty well-made game, had no trouble picking it up and felt pretty intuitive (using Desktop mode)

The game was pretty fun, although during one level I lost and felt that it wasn’t my fault at all since there was no possible way of winning in that level with the items I had. In previous levels, I could easily finish them with as much as one paper roll.

After losing there, I got stuck on this screen (no button was clickable) :

image.png

Might just be me, but I think arcade mode could benefit from a timer or an incentive to make the player go faster and force him to make some quick decisions. Right now, I could just really take my time and figure out the best way to maximize the amount of points (maybe that’s intended though). Either way, still fun to play!

Greate game!

Developer

Ooh great find, that is a rare scenario bug. I hadn't encountered this yet, but the game over screen should be rendered in front of everything to prevent this stuck scenario from happening. I'll fix this in 1.0.5.

Good idea on the increased pressure on arcade mode. with a timer. I have a similar idea I'm building towards for hindrances in arcade mode: make bonus challenges to deal with in some levels/runs. Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Good tutorial. Very intuitive and satisfying.

Arcade mode is a good add. I took some times learning all the items + upgrades. At some point I got bored because there was no time constraint or anything that kept me in.

A thing I didn't know is if the items were permanent, and that I could sell them. But I discovered it by clicking around.

Using mobile controls wixth a trackpad (like said in description) is good. I think you should make it like this for trackpad, but also allowing to cut with a keyboard key, and make the cutting trigger zone closer to the roll, because on a trackpad you are more precise than on mobile. Very intuitive controls.

For art, you did a good job. I'd say to move the Pause button and the "place for next paper roll" so Pause button isn't on top of "place for next paper roll". I think you can improve the toilet roll animation at it's a core part of the game.

I wasn't confused by any UI. I really liked how looked the combo system.

Nice music. It turns out to be an interesting idea. I look forward to what you will do in next updates !

Developer

Thanks for playing and great suggestions! I think I'll start pointing people to the two options: single click/touch or L+R mouse, going forward. I think opening up a keymap option for the toggle button will be best, and also letting you customize what you want the toggle behavior to be.

I'll remake the pause button into the "Level: X" UI box or some other box on the screen, in order to save some space.

I'll ponder some ways to up the toilet roll animation. I also really want to make a proper refill animation for that paper roll.

Submitted(+1)

I think the arcade mode gameplay is pretty addictive when you get into a groove with the strategy!

For the UI, I didn't really like the tiny pixel art for your upgrades, and they kind of blend into the background of your upgrade screen (especially the fishing rod & mouse).

I was eventually able to make it to level 7 in arcade mode, but couldn't get past that, even when I had two +2 rolls and the lucky cat item. Obviously the items that show up on your roll can be random and that's the point, but the number of sheets per roll is also random and that can cause a HUGE variance. Like, if a roll is only 10 sheets long, you're really screwed for getting points, since a lot of the items work best when you can get 12 sheets in a pile.

Developer

Thank you for playing! Verrry true for the tiny pixel upgrades. I'm gonna look into putting subtle background shading to them so they stand out from the background better. That's also a great point about the sq count <-> sticker importance for balancing. That's giving me ideas for things that can add squares to the roll, that' I hadn't considered yet.

Submitted(+1)

I really enjoyed this one! The art and polish are very good and I felt there is a good balance between skill and luck. 

The upgrades really made a big difference, and I could tell before the level even started whether my chance of passing is good or not. I made it up to level 7, although I got a whopping score of 4000+ on level 6, so I might have gotten further if I didn't buy a high risk roll... I just kept buying upgrades, but I'd change my strategy now to save some coins for later rounds to buy at least 1 good roll.

As for controls, they were pretty good. Maybe I'd like the cutting area to be a bit wider because I sometimes failed to make the cut in one move.

Cheers!

Developer

Thank you for playing! I'm glad to hear the upgrades feel great and are inspiring strategy in your next run. I'll be working on more diverse toys, rolls, and stickers soon so hopefully that strategy begins to have more depth. I'll look into expanding the cutting area too.

Submitted(+1)

I loved this game even though I did not make it to level 5+ in arcade mode.  I suppose I stopped since I wasn't really getting the strategy regarding the bombs?  maybe only introduce those after a few levels to give a few easy wins to the player?

The UI is so so good.  I love the balatro style buttons like the settings menu is also so good, well done!  Beautiful pixel work and very smart to use a palette.  Credits are also good and I appreciated the click to scroll faster.  

I personally love this because my cat does this behavior too and we have to keep all our bathroom doors closed because of it.  He's a good kitty.  I loved the game over screen to with the "the owner is upset, great job!" is so funny.  

The art is already feeling really polished honestly.  I think I was seeing a bug where some of my spools of TP would spawn in already fully pulled? But I wasn't sure what was causing it and it didn't stick forever.

Great addition of arcade mode that's a super fun idea and totally transforms the game!!  Nice work!

Developer(+1)

Great feedback on the beginning balancing. The bomb does require the pliers to understand the startegy and I don't pre-code that the pliers show up with the bomb, whooops. I think having a positive effect as the first one might be better, like you said. Better to feel pew-pew-positive score going than BooM-sad right from the getgo. I'll also make sure the first time I introduce the bomb, pliers will be next to it.

I haven't seen that fully spooled bug before, I'll look out for that!

I'm glad the humor and ridiculous toilet paper experience feels understood from a fellow cat owner lol. Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Today gave this game to a couple of my friends, who aren't very familiar with video games. Here's what I noticed after seeing them play (on mobile):

Both of them had trouble cutting the paper, paper cut icon didn't seem to work and when I suggested cutting they tried to do so from edge of the paper, but still on it, so the cut didn't work and they kept dragging their fingers in panic, without understanding why it doesn't work.

Additionally they sometimes tried to cut the paper in the middle (between the lines), which obviously didn't work. This was especially prominent when it was the last piece of paper on the roll.

Other than this, they had fun and liked the game, though didn't get very far in arcade. At least for now.


Developer(+1)

Thank you for spreading the word and playtesting more!! This is really good feedback for the mobile version. I do think that simple symbology-on-paper approach works better for a crowd that knows games well. When I had my parents play, they also expected to be able to swipe anywhere on the dotted line to cut it. I updated and put more explicit instructions on the touchscreen mode about where you should start swiping from to do the cut. Hopefully that will build that habit better. Ideally I think supporting what feels intuitive to people is best, but right now it's kind of a pain to implement the cut anywhere without messing up the swiping. Eventually I'll get to that.

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

This game is really fun. I had great time, such a cool concept. I found arcade mode much more interesting than time challenge/jam version, so I think your improvement is amazing. For me it changed the game from something I quickly get bored with to something I want more of. So great job on the update.

On the feedback:

  • Your UI is really clear, nothing is confusing. 
  • I think your game already looks great, so not sure what you should improve.
  • In the arcade mode I reached level 7 before losing. For me the most fun is trying to maximize my score. At one point I got something like 2.5k, it was really fun seeing the number go so high. At the same time I think the score target is being raised too quickly. I feel like my items were good, and on many previous levels I was scoring more than I needed, but then I got three unlucky paper rolls, and lost the game. So maybe the game should do a quick check to see if at least one paper roll has at least something going for it
  • Controls were intuitive (mouse)

Bonus points: 

  • Let me scratch the cat in the main menu/title screen
  • A little suggestion is to maybe bring some arcade logic back to timed mode to make it a bit more interesting. Plain counting gets pretty boring rather quickly. After 11 counting without that numbers aid is really painful.

Edit: tried on mobile, plays great there too, no issues. This time reached level 8 and unfortunately it again felt like I was handed terrible rolls, almost every single one was one off from setting of a powerful combo... (For example I had cherry and a banana, plus some other things. The roll was 11 long, I can't maximize my score here. Also can't effectively apply lucky cat)

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and for this extensive feedback! I haven't thought hard enough about balancing the classic mode, but I think there's an opportunity to make it more fun for sure. The feedback about luck balancing is also good. I'm hoping when I scale out with way more items, and different ways to make extra money, that problem will go away on its own. If not, I'll definitely be playing around with the roll sticker balancing and level point minimums, while also exploring if I can guarantee one good roll without breaking balance later on.

The cat scratch in the main menu is such a great callout, how could I forget that! I added that in the latest upload. And implementing that, gave me an idea on how to use that purr loop for juice in the scoring. Great idea.

Submitted(+1)

I want to say I made it to level 5 exactly in the arcade mode, and I stopped there just because I felt I'd seen enough to rate and review the game. I thought it was pretty fun for what it was, though I wish there was some way to see how many rolls/piles you can make before your owner gets angry. I never got very far in the classic mode, though; it suddenly expects me to go by multiples of 11 and I run out of time. I played with a trackpad and it felt intuitive enough to me.

Developer (1 edit)

That's a great point! I'm realizing it's less motivating when you don't know what the "win" condition of the game is. I'll think about where that end level should be, and some cute dialogue to make it narratively worth it. Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Interesting concept and addicting to play when you master the cutting.

After playing for a while I got really good at the game and it was really good.

5 minutes later the game got really repetetive…

Developer

Yes, I know that feeling from playtesting of getting in the groove and it being satisfying, but it feels like there needs to be more to discover. I have some mechanics and more toys and stickers in mind for the future. Thank you for playing!

Submitted(+1)

I enjoyed it, however I found that it got kind of repetitive after a few rounds.

Developer

Thanks for playing! Also yess, I feel that from playing it so much myself, I have some ideas to spruce up the gameplay and give more options than just slide and cut.

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting game with a lot of content. 

I liked the rogue lite elements it is pretty fun to play, well done!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! I'm going to take some inspiration from your meat ui sliders and try to make my volume bars more stylized.