This is my favorite game I’ve come across so far. I gave you an almost perfect score but fell just short of the enjoyment (because of some design decisions with the buttons I had to press). But this was amazing. Gave me Pony Island vibes. I LOVE this game and I really want to see more from you. Much love.
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Year 1's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Narrative | #498 | 3.650 | 3.650 |
| Creativity | #594 | 4.150 | 4.150 |
| Audio | #2088 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Artwork | #3466 | 3.150 | 3.150 |
| Enjoyment | #4130 | 2.850 | 2.850 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
In my game, you are stuck in a time loop where trying to advance to the next season will just loop you back in time to the start of the season. You need to use this to your advantage (as your resources reset but the map does not) to try to fix the game.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
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Comments
Hey, I wanted to invite you to my discord. Your game was so interesting in that interactive narrative way, I’d really like to keep up with you. I’m a very small game design youtuber who talks about interactive narrative a lot, and my discord is filled with game devs that appreciate these kinds of designs. Hope to see you there :) https://discord.gg/pXBuebn7WY
My buddy showed me this game and I really enjoyed it. Very clever, difficulty scales well and I had fun playing it. Awesome job!
Submitted
Out of the LoopThis was great! I was able to play it without looking at the hints. It is just tricky enough. On point with the theme, solid puzzles, I really don't have any negatives to point out. Great job!
Submitted
Out of the LoopVery creative entry! I like the "the game is broken" aesthetic which subverts your expectations and starts digging into devtools and playtest notes. It works well narratively. I like the idea of reading playtest notes (i.e. someone else's bug report) to try and figure out the bugs you're meant to exploit.
I got stuck though, quite quickly, and I think in a game like this it's very hard to know what's a "bug" (i.e. a designed puzzle you're supposed to solve) and what's an actual bug, that will prevent me from proceeding. For example, I got a gold mine unlocked (after reading hints) and then could not place it adjacent to the gold mine deposit, even after exploring all the way there. I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if that was a bug. It's also frustrating that the first puzzle is clicking around randomly to find an invisible button.
I would suggest it's better to subvert expectations after you've established them a bit more: for example if you could build at least a couple of things "normally" before the developer stuff starts happening.
Submitted
Practice Makes PerfectThanks for the feedback! Some other people also pointed out that the puzzles seemed a bit random, and I agree with that. Although I added a hint system, I agree that it feels a bit inadequate.
About the gold mine placement, maybe you ran out of energy or wood? It’s impossible to place a village center and another building (like a gold mine) in the same “cycle,” as the village center uses up all 3 energy. I am assuming that is what stopped you from placing the gold mine, although I will go look into it.
Again, about the invisible buttons, I agree that those were the weakest points in the puzzles. I understand that it can feel frustrating to have to randomly click everywhere, and even with the clues given, I guess it would still be hard to figure out where it was located.
As for your last comment, part of the reason I didn’t make you build more than 2 buildings before the actual puzzle gameplay started was because I didn’t think people would want to sit through 5 or so runs of the tutorial again and again. But I guess there are other ways to introduce building mechanics better.
Again, thanks for your feedback! This is my first ever puzzle game so stuff like this is really valuable!
Interesting mix of a puzzle game and a city builder, some of the solutions seem a little random and theres no way i would have ever known what to do if i didnt just read the hints. Overall i really like the idea and i think the game looks really nice.
Submitted
Hazards in OrbitThanks! I originally thought they might be too hard, but I didn’t change them because I felt that people would figure them out. Looking back, I agree that the solutions don’t feel very concrete, and I tried to fix that through the hint system. I guess it didn’t work out as well as I expected. But thanks for your feedback!
I love the little animations and story you added! It’s also a very well-done game (and I liked the AI bit haha).
Submitted
Combo Cars
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