Play Allocating
Alien Allocation's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #23 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Concept | #24 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
| Use of the Limitation | #24 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| Overall | #30 | 3.375 | 3.375 |
| Enjoyment | #68 | 2.417 | 2.417 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team members
1
Software used
Godot
Use of the limitation
U have to allocate limited house space to the aliens to live in !
Cookies eaten
0 :(
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I like the idea a lot, and I can see a lot of potential in something like this, but I feel like it's too easy.
The ability to move Grumpy Carlson around is detrimental, I think. It makes it easy to solve things. I think it would be funny if he was so grumpy, he won't move.
I love the little lore bits in the game, I really enjoyed that about it. It gives more depth to the silly little game, and it's just fun seeing how these characters relate to each other.
I think, instead of having the aliens all automatically fill space, maybe having the player actually have to select where each one goes would make it more stimulating. Perhaps holding down the mouse button and dragging will place aliens in whichever tile your mouse drags over. I think that'll keep it from being tedious.
I love the art style, it's super charming and fun.
Overall, love it, I just wish it was harder. Also, is the name a reference to Alien Isolation? If so, that's hilarious.
Ngl, the idea about carlson being too grumpy to move is soo good, and now Im wondering why didnt I think of that. It just makes sense!
For the lore bits, they are taken from my previous jam game lmao, Guns and Grammar. I thought of naming the fellas in this one and thought, maybe they could be the characters form my old game xD
"Perhaps holding down the mouse button and dragging will place aliens in whichever tile your mouse drags over."
Thats another very good idea, While making the placing system, I knew that placing 1 alien at a time would be too annoying. So I just went the opposite way of letting the game handle that part.
But just grabbing the aliens and dragging them over cells to place them seems to be the better idea. Like it wont be as annoying as placing them one by one. But it wont make it as boring as just "The game does it for you" kinda thing
Ill definitely play around with this one and definitely implement the carlson being too grumpy to move idea
I really appreciate the thought out feedback, you literally solved 2 VERY big problems I had just put bandage over.
Thanks for the help! :D
Oh and also, yes. The name is a reference to the game. The word allocation rhymed too good with isolation xD
No problem! I'm so glad I could help. I mean, that's what these game jams are for, right? Improving.
The style is charming and works well with the mechanic of allocation! This is the type of game that would benefit well from a generative system for level-making in the style of candy-crush because once you've bested a level there is not much incentive to return from the puzzle.
The fact the game is relatively big with a lot levels is good because you get to really play around with all the scenarios and the way allocation looks and is taught in game was well structured! Good one!
Thanks for trying the game out! :D
I agree about the replayability of the game. But as I am not planning to make this like a full fledged game, I dont think it will have that many levels, but I might add a few more to challenge the player
"you get to really play around with all the scenarios and the way allocation looks and is taught in game was well structured!"
I wanted to give each mechanic a level to explain it to the player well and then branch of to more complex levels. So the levels you play are kinda like thee tutorials xD
I barely managed to make these ones in time. But will def add some more levels and rework pre-existing mechanics before abandoning it! :D
Again, really appreciate the feedback!
the art style is great!
Thanks, but I cant take the complement for the background and the interior tilesets, as I got them from an asset pack :)
I did mention them in the credits if you ever wanna use the same assets.
The game is very beautiful, smooth and well animated... Tho, i think it's very, very simple ? I just dragged and dropped the aliens in random spots every time and it kinda worked ? gg for the great visuals work tho
I really agree with the levels being too simple, I have had times where I think a mechanic will be obvious but to many it isnt
So I really wanted to have like a tutorial level which will just involve that 1 mechanic and be very simple.
They were quick to make and I was running out of time
So I really managed to just add tutorial levels which explained a mechanic and didnt challenge the player at all
(If u also did drop the humans on the tables.. that was a bug it seems, which I completely missed)
I couldve done more but I spent a literal whole day making the grind lines working that are animated when aliens are placed or removed to show connection. They are still buggy and now Im remaking that system with a different approach.
After that, ill try to think of more levels that are actually complex and dont require a random drag and drop xD
Anyways, I really appreciate you trying the game out and giving honest feedback! :D
For a jam game, I love the concept and the execution. However, I still have some nitpicks that don't get in the way of the experience too much;
1. Having to exit to the menu to pick a new level every time gets old fast since the animation is unskippable.
2. The people are completely forgettable obstacles once you put them on the table or carpet
All in all, fun game.
Really appreciate the honest feedback
I definitely made the start animation just a bit too long, Ill make sure to fix that
For the people being placeable on the carpet and tables..
Well it was intended to be able to place them on carpets but I didnt take into account the tables xD
Thats definitely a bug which Ill look into
Thanks for the bug report! :D
Nice game, there's some potential there if you keep refining these levels.
Thanks for trying it out!
Cool concept, but it was a very fast ride! It'd be great to see what your concept looked like if there were more levels and maybe some additional twists thrown in along the way. Thanks for making and sharing your game!
I kinda ran out of time too quickly.
Started working on the levels like 3 hrs before the jam ended lmao
I just tried to fit in every mechanic into a level and teach that mechanic, but never managed to actually make the level more complex after teaching a mechanic.
But it is my plan to add a few more levels that are actually good before quitting on this :D
Really appreciate the feedback!
Really cool idea! The concept has legs and I think with some more time spent on level / puzzle design you could have a really cool little puzzle game here. Awesome job!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for trying the game out!
Rn Im reworking some stuff in the game, after that Ill try to make more complex levels and mechanics
Very easy, but very well made.
How did you get a godot game to launch in window? I've been using godot and my web exports always opens a new window with the game.
I was running very low on time and thats pretty evident by the level design lol
But now that the jam has ended, Ill try to come up with more scenarios :D
For the export, do u mean here on itch? I dont think Ive ever changed any settings while exporting and I didnt even knew that you could have yourr game open in a separate window lol. (Maybe its a setting while uploading the game? but not sure)
Well, I export the game into a zip file and upload the zip to itch, with the index.html file being what actually gets run. But for me it always opens it in a separate window. Might be my version of godot, i havent updated it in a while...
I follow the same process, never happened to me
Weird, wonder what I'm doing differently
This was fun! It feels a bit too easy when you can move around the humans though.