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Balthazar Glimmerail : Magic jewels delivery system's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay | #2 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
| How do you rate the game overall (you can consider fun, dev time, etc.)? | #4 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
| Audio | #7 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Visuals | #10 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
| How well does the game fit the themes? | #15 | 2.900 | 2.900 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How long was your dev time?
Team of 3; 3 hours
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Comments
Wow this is probably one of the most improved games in this Trijam series! The time you spent cleaning up the levels and adding the gem mechanics really paid off. The tutorial is the biggest improvement, I felt like the game just flowed from there. It kept my attention all the way through, and I was a little sad when it ended. It took me just a few tries to realize that I could switch the direction of the track curves by clicking them - that mechanic might be useful to have in the tutorial. This just needs more levels and maybe a couple more obstacle variations/interactions (dynamite blowing up, maybe?) and I think you have a full game.
Excellent job!
Thanks a lot! Really happy to hear the improvements paid off.
I had a few more ideas to make the game feel even better, but time got in the way. (And yeah… I totally forgot to make the dynamite actually blow up. realized it after the 3 hours were up! That might be the first thing I add next week.)
You've made some fantastic improvements - this version feels much more polished and thoughtful. The tutorial and level progression are great additions, and the new mechanics add meaningful depth. That triple reverse gem level was tricky but satisfying once I understood how the tracks behave. A bit more clarity on those rules could help players get there faster.
A couple of small usability tweaks could really enhance the experience. Moving the CLEAR button away from Start and Fast Forward would help avoid accidental resets. Also, an option to erase individual track pieces instead of clearing everything would make layout adjustments much easier. This feels super close to being mobile-ready - I’d definitely play it on the go with just these small updates. Great work!
adding to my collection now :)
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the update, the triple reverse gem is my personal favorite too.
As suggested during the live, I’ll work on making the track rules clearer and improving the explanations.
Really happy to read your comment, it means a lot!
I already loved the first version of the game and this new one is even more impressive! It's crazy to see how much content you added since last time. The tutorial and level progression is very clever. The new mechanics are very nice and well used.
Once the jam is over I'd love to see an extended version of the game with more levels.
Thanks a lot! Really happy you liked the new version.
I had more idea but didn't got time to put them all 😅
That Balthazar knows how to polish a gem!
This has come so far since last time. I love the tutorial and the more puzzley levels.
I had to spend quite a while on the triple reverse gem level, understanding how the tracks and train behave. It was satisfying to figure out, but then I saw that in the screenshot you have your tracks behave differently.
I was struggling with wanting to get them to connect differently until I embraced that vertical lines curve coming from the top, horizontal lines curve coming from the left, and trains always take a turn when offered. I'll attach a couple screenshots to show what I'm talking about, in case it's not meant to be like this. It was a good puzzle though.
Thank you for playing the game again!
I'm glad you had fun.
The screenshots are not the answer, the tracks that are in them are voluntarily wrongly placed. The solution displayed in my screenshot won't work.
It is an interesting solution you got there. It's what I like with games like that, there are a lot of possible solutions.
What I want to bring focus to is how the bottom horizontal track connects to the connecting vertical track. In your screenshot example, though it's a wrong solution overall, the first jewel can still be delivered because the vertical track connects with a curve to the right. But when I played, it was not possible to get a vertical track that connects going to the right. Vertical tracks only ever come in with a curve to the left.
I don't know if this is an intended limitation, but it could make for very interesting puzzles if it's consistent. Or is there a way to change which way the tracks curve, that I missed?
You can click on the track to make it switch.
But I agree that it is not intuitive, but I didn't find a way to make it obvious that this functionality exists.
Hahaha somehow in all my clicking around I never discovered this!
Well, I was playing on hard mode I guess :)
It might be something fun to play with for later levels, to limit that function. And I wonder if there's any interesting puzzles to be found with a magic crystal that switches the track direction after it crosses over?
And now I'm impressed that you solved the game without being able to switch track.
I just needed to make sure each junction was oriented in the way that was needed, which meant winding track around and being careful about my space and fuel. It was fun! And, it turns out, lucky that that particular level had just enough space and fuel to be possible, with an efficient track layout.
Awesome changes. I really hope you develop this after the jam - super fun and unique game idea!
Thank you for your comment!
I really enjoyed developing this game, so there is a good chance that I will finish it.
Great work on the improvements. I would actually play this game on my phone all the time. You need to add an erase method for the tracks. The clear is nice but i dont want to lose my entire track.
Thank you for your comment!
I think that it would be a great idea to port this game to mobile!
You can remove a track with a right click, or I didn't understand your problem correctly.
(Edit: I tried playing it on my phone and now understand the pain, of not being able to remove tracks. I will see next week if i can fix that for mobile !)
Wow, some seriously nice improvements there! One piece of feedback, move the CLEAR button. With it being right between Start and Fast Forward, I can't tell you how many times I accidently cleared my layout.
Thank you for the nice comment 😊.
Testing today, with a fresh mind, I too miss-clicked and erased all the track. Indeed, the UI can be improved. I didn't have this problem when developing it because I used the shortcut 'F'.
We will work on that for next week!
Also playing it again, at one point I tried to build tracks under the buttons and wasn't able to. I think that was because the area looks like you can build there, so maybe covering the button area with unbuildable terrain is the easy fix for that instead of trying to make it work. And yes I know if I go under the buttons I failed for certain due to a lack of fuel!