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A jam submission

Trap KeyView game page

take turns pressing keys on your keyboard
Submitted by Dabble Games — 22 days, 19 hours before the deadline
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Trap Key's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity#252.8873.062
Overall#302.4752.625
Sound design#302.2982.438
Fun gameplay#312.2392.375

Ranked from 16 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

A local multiplayer game is great for the creativeness. The execution is where things breakdown a bit but not in a catastrophic way. The readouts can really break the local player competitiveness of the game. Also the Army alphabet was kinda throwing me off. I was just expecting the letter. lol

The game ultimately boiled down to luck though, which normally isn't all that fun in the long run. Some player control that can help with the outcome of the game is very much needed. The way I see this game, is it's a fantastic starting block to something that could really turn into a fun and competitive local multiplayer game with the right tweaks.

I like what you did here, so thanks for sharing your game!

Submitted(+1)

It's an original video game in its concept and the possibility of playing several locally is a good idea!

Submitted(+1)

I think this is a really cool idea, and creative game, I don’t know how I would necessarily improve it, but I think some elements don’t necessarily work terribly well given the local play / voice readout. All the same, really cool concept and neat idea!

Submitted(+1)

I’m not able to get the full experience with this one, but it’s a great concept with sound design that fits the vibe. As cryptic as the NATO phonetic alphabet can be, I’d agree with cutting that, so each player only knows their own moves for certain, and has no idea exactly what other players have pressed (e.g. announce Player 2 set a trap.). There might be value in adding more strategy by letting the player inspect a key by pressing it once, maybe it announces how many nearby traps there are like Minesweeper, and then confirm with a second press or Enter. Nice work!

DeveloperSubmitted

Hi thanks for playing my game, I can definitely see how a mine sweeper style mechanic could add an interesting layer to the game. Maybe it could work as a powerup in a future update or version. I appreciate all the ideas, I wanted trap key to be more about making decisions based on memory and wanted some element of luck too. 

To be honest I'm not the best developer i still have much to learn. My hope is to inspire others to make games be it beginner or seasoned. I believe the most important thing is to keep experimenting and having fun in the process and if it's given you more ideas then that's awesome. 

Submitted(+1)

We all have so much to learn from each other. It’s this exchange of ideas and feedback that makes game jams so great! You’ve created three quality submissions here, which have generated good discussion like this, so you’re definitely on the right track.

Submitted(+1)

I'm not totally sure I understood how to play this game, given that it says the key that was pressed, and you have to be playing with other people (who could just hear that), so maybe there is something I'm missing. The audio used to say or announce what was happening was really challenging to understand (not sure if maybe that was the point). 

DeveloperSubmitted

The audio definitely shouldn't be challenging to understand. I am new to using the speak text in construct, I have heard other comments about it spelling out letters rather than saying the word. I am still learning things. 

Basically, you take turns to press a key from a to z. If a green key is pressed it turns blue and if it is pressed again when it's blue it turns red (this is a trap) and if it's pressed when it's red you are eliminated. 

At the beginning some keys will begin blue so will become traps when pressed for the first time. Their positions are random (I should have made this clearer by jumbling them up on the main menu). The key to winning is to remember where all the traps are so you don't get eliminated. 

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I haven’t tried it with someone else - only alone. It seems fun as a concept and the simple visuals and mechanics are also appealing. A few things I noticed:

  1. “Turn” is being read as T U R N, separate letters, which is confusing. I only realized what the word was when I was writing this review. All I was hearing was “T you are in”. Then when writing it down was when I realized it was spelling the word.
  2. I thought this would be a memory game where we start by selecting letters but then eventually we have to remember what letter the other person (and us) chose already. This is interesting and fun at its core concept without adding extra stuff. But you add some stuff for spice, presumably. My question is: I don’t understand why some letters start as green and some don’t. Like in my first turn I can set a trap without knowing it. This isn’t explained in the instructions. I also don’t quite understand the purpose of it, and would like to know the reasoning behind it (adding more challenge is a good enough reason!)
  3. On the same note, I don’t know how to check at the start of each game (if playing without visuals) which letters are already green or not. Unless I’m not supposed to know and it’s random and secret at the start of every game.
  4. Also, I can’t play the downloadable version for some reason? I can’t find the game file. If it’s “workermain” it gets an error.

I also think it could have a collaborative version if you think about upgrading the game. That could be super fun. And hopefully some online version when you have the resilience and wish to break your brain trying to figure it out! Haha.

I like it, it’s simple and effective. Unfortunately I don’t really know how to test it with a friend because it has to be in person… but if I can snatch someone I’ll come and edit the rating if I have something to change. :)

Very many congratulations for the idea and achievement of making a fully accessible multiplayer game.

Submitted(+1)

I noticed the T U R N and I S as well. I think it has to do with passing all-caps to the TTS.

DeveloperSubmitted

Hello and thank you so much for your constructive feedback. I'm not sure why it was not speaking like that. I am still learning a lot of things. When I first made this game every letter would start green, and when pressed again it would turn blue and if a blue key was pressed it would red to indicate it is a trap key which when pressed eliminates a player.

However, if every key begins green it's possible for a player in a two player game to always win by simply pressing the last key that was pressed forcing the other player to eventually press a trapped key, which is not how I want players to play. I could have had every key start green but prevent a player pressing the last key pressed but I don't think that would work very well either. So I made the game begin with a  random number of blue keys which only need to be pressed once to set a trap, and their position is random too. I should have made this clearer by having the blue keys on the main menu jumble constantly. I think the best way to remember where all the traps are is to make a word with the trap letters. 

Unfortunately I only know how to make local multiple games but I do know someone who can make it for me so you can play with anyone in the world. I could also ask him to perhaps have an option to select which powerups you want in the game to spice things up to encourage players to choose keys which have not been chosen. Eg I could have a skip turn power up, and reveal a red trap or set any key to a trap powerup which can be used at any time by that player. 

(+1)

Great initiative to create a game for blind players! Really like the concept.

DeveloperSubmitted(+1)

Thank you for playing my game and I'm glad you liked the idea