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A jam submission

Psychopomp #5View game page

Assess souls in the after life based what the cards say about their life...
Submitted by hamyah (@ha_myah) — 1 hour, 23 minutes before the deadline
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Psychopomp #5's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Creativity/Story#23.0003.000
World Design/UI#42.5002.500
Enjoyment#42.2502.250
Polish#52.0002.000
Theme#52.2502.250
Sound Design#61.2501.250
Overall#62.2082.208

Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted

I couldn't play the game in its entirety, because when I'd click the "Realm Entrance Form" it was cut off so I could only see the tops of the first two cards and the words "the soul should go". This meant I couldn't select the third card, and I think limited my progress. I was playing on Windows in a firefox browser.

Submitted

I really enjoy the concept here, as well as the art and detailed descriptions. On my computer (Mac, viewing in browser), I was not able to click on the buttons for form, realm, etc. - they disappeared when clicked and did not return. I also had all buttons become unclickable during the 3rd chance to upgrade.

I'm very curious how the judgment plays out. The abstract development of the souls in front of me was very interesting and allowed me to start creating a story, which I enjoyed. I hope you keep developing this!

Submitted

World Design/UI-the strongest part of this, the paperwork clashing with the greek medium produces interesting experimentation with the format (what do the court observers care about,  why are they hovering over my shoulder, am i a new recruit or is this judgement of some kind). i would say the strongest direction this game could go into is having these arbiters handle the paper, they might pass it around in deliberation, the (good realm form goes to the good kritis first, bad realm goes to the bad kritis first). i kind of think using more greek terminology (tartarus for bad realm, elysium for good realm and asphodel for middle realm), might tell the player more about the world but that could conflict with the more bureaucratic adaptation angle.

creativity/story - i walked away with more an interpretation of femininity vs masculinity, with feminity (stars, high priestess, ), a meaningless death (on the battlefield) was viewed more neutrally by me, too many masculine cards (hermit, fool, devil or an arrangement thereof being somewhere in the cut off). My best success rate was adding value, where: stars was pretty good devil was pretty bad (emperor and empress were more middling), i didnt normally blame fluctuations in the human moral order but if there are some, the kritis could make a comment: "boy the war is rough for the workload", "corruption is so mortal", "these are prosperous times few are in need of judgement", an simple arc for why there are more dead also seems appropriate but i feel im starting to leave the bounds of the game world (more cards related to the war/conflict over time doesnt gel with a middle realm strong enough to make a triumvirate). i think there's a little more going on than zeus bad mother good (maybe not lul) but i was unable to ascertain it

sound design - no sound is a strong choice, i think even with that decision some background noise clay sounds would be better, but why bring focus to something that wouldnt be a strength of the demo by having hastily sourced pot sounds, p  good for soundless imo.

polish - i really like how the  flavor text was erased more and more with each lower level, that's a fun element. max level would be better as fully unerased and possibly even boldened? level ups should be 4 or at the very least  is awkward, i think 2 might even be good value (looking at complete cards every turn is kind of awkward, but if you could only unlock 1-2 cards in a run it might be more meaningful, i also grew to view the 'explanations of cards' as very much 'in the way of the workflow' which is something that could be leaned into instead).

enjoyment -  paperwork is in an awkward spot, not fun to click after hover, i had a run or two where i could tell the card by its face (for the most part) and this was enjoyable though i wouldve liked a better grasp on the pass-fail mechanics at this point to really nail it. i think the biggest problem is that denied and approved both take similar amounts of time to process, failures should disrupt the workflow and approvals should fall in line with the game loop (generally), i do think there is a moment of tension while they are being processed (approved or denied havent popped up yet, i was thinking the timing was slightly different but this was probably an emotional response to the game, i wanted to be right right felt quicker somehow) which might be more important than this gameplay consideration (do souls get processed quicker if you do it right? who knows...)

theme - there were moments where i definitely felt watched (the three kritis made sure of that), not sure about the play aspect (its more office meets urn, and there unfortunately wasnt room for a third adoption of actor by me, maybe ill try again). i kind of think the left two guys could be differentiated better in a way that more fully explains the morale space (this was kind of an earlier comment i stuck here)

very fun! thank you for sharing