Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

• "Clean execution of Connect 4 mechanics with a clever progression twist - beating score gates to unlock new chips that enhance your scoring potential creates an engaging upgrade loop. The variety of chips with different effects adds strategic depth to the classic falling piece formula. The graphics are simple but functional, and the AI opponent works well for jam scope. For commercial viability, it would benefit from more visual effects, smarter AI opposition, and potentially multiplayer support. For a solo developer, this shows good understanding of incremental progression and demonstrates a well-executed idea that could be expanded into a more feature-rich puzzle game. This is an interesting concept, and it was fun to try to decipher a way to actually win. It feels like it needs additional balancing to actually be winnable, though. The fact that the 'multiply score by 2' chip did not work was probably holding me back from being able to do better. The 2D art and audio design were strengths of this game." --- "Another very polished feeling contender. Connect 4 Balatro – what’s not to like. Graphics were very clean and clear, it was pretty easy to work out what to do etc. One thing that I think felt a little bit awkward was that you had to beat your opponent but you also had to get a specific score – these two goals felt a bit at odds – one time for example I beat the computer, but lost the round so had to start again which felt a bit harsh. I also found it quite difficult to plan where to use my special chips for a couple of reasons – as you’ve got no control over where the special chips fall it makes it tricky to ensure you are using them to maximum effect. It might work better if you had more control over when you could place special tiles down. It also feels like you then get penalised if you beat the AI too quickly – the time that I lost but didn’t get a high enough score to proceed, I pretty much just placed 4 tiles in a row down and won very quickly. Finally I found the AI could be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it felt quite devious, other times I felt like I beat it quite easily. "