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Assurance's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Emotional Impact: Does it leave a mark? | #19 | 2.469 | 2.667 |
| Creativity: How bold, weird, or original is the idea? | #31 | 3.086 | 3.333 |
| Theme Interpretation: How well did it embody "It's not what it seems"? | #36 | 2.700 | 2.917 |
| Overall | #38 | 2.642 | 2.854 |
| Fun: Is the core concept of the game fun and entertaining? | #46 | 2.315 | 2.500 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
it fits, music a little too cheerful at first but it fits
This was a really neat game! You came up with a very straightforward but fun mechanic that fit in the context of the story and made you actively participate in it. Very cool ideas here!
Cool. I like the old feel with the dialogue boxes. Done very well.
Very cool game!!!!!! Cool typing mechanic, cool artstyle which reminds me of Deltarune. Overall, I really enjoyed this game. Well done dude, be proud :)
I was drawn to the game right away thanks to its appealing art style and presentation it really sets the tone before even starting. The music also adds nicely to the atmosphere and makes the experience enjoyable.
As for the gameplay, the typing mechanic is fun and works well, but I think it could use a bit more variety to keep things engaging. For example, slowing down the timer would make it more accessible for players who type at different speeds, and adding some kind of reward or punishment system could give the gameplay an extra layer of tension and excitement.
Overall, it’s a solid and creative entry, with a charming style and good ideas. Great job on putting this together! If you’d like, you can also check out our game we’d love to hear what you think!
I like the idea of the game, the art style, it looked appealing even before starting the game. It might be good to slow down the timer, I'm a slow typer so had a hard time doing that.
Thank you! And there's an option to slow down the timer in the options menu under "typing"! Accessible both from the title screen and through the [?] in the top-right corner during gameplay. I hope this helps :)
Great game overall Art style is good Music is good and i realized i need to get better at typing. But it's kind of lacking in gameplay because the entire game is just keyboard pressing
Yeah, the default typing speed is approximately 40 words per minute, which is apparently the average typing speed, so it's not unexpected that some players need to turn it down.
The gameplay is definitely very typing heavy, though honestly, I'm fine with it this way. Most of the visual novel genre can be summed up to "you click buttons and read", so I think it's almost expected from one that most of the entertainment comes from experiencing the story. I do understand how this can be jarring to someone expecting a more gameplay heavy experience though.
Thanks for playing!
Really like the artstyle and vibe of the game, enjoyed the story. I went with the normal typing speed, but seems I type slowly. I noticed that occasionally nothing would happen if I had not finished typing before the timer went out. I also think there could be more of a consequence for not completing the words and sentences in time. And perhaps an optional use of the numpad (and the dot there) to write numbers. The game also left me wondering if the player has any choice in some of the story events? Could the player just refuse to type certain things? Or do we not have that agency because we're a computer?
Went back and read the ending guide, and it looks like we do have some agency, though I also noticed with the audit popup that when I clicked zoom, the timer stopped indefinitely. Not sure if this is intended behaviour.
Thanks for playing!! Glad you enjoyed it :)
A very valid point I didn't quite think about! I was thinking sometimes something happening would spice it up, but it DOES play as sometimes nothing happening. Post jam version should make sure something happens on each timeout.
Perhaps a good change would be to decrease the threshold of slow responses to get a bad ending, maybe from 50% to 30%? I didn't want to be too harsh since I believe it's usually better to be more generous to the player when in doubt, but I'll consider it. More points of failure-by-slow response could also be good, though I'd need to alter some dialogue to accommodate it, and I don't feel like doing that.
I wasn't aware it didn't work, thanks for that! I don't have a number pad, so I'll have to figure out some way to test it.
I fear you may have caught a bug with the audit popup freezing, I'll look into it! I thought I tested it, but perhaps I should have been more thorough.
Thanks for the feedback!
Art style is verry good I love it but But there should be a reward and punishment system in the game. You write wrong and noting happens you can add stress factor at least one I think. Good Job!
Thanks for playing!! There actually is a bit of a reward/punishment system as you describe it, though it's only in one place, so you have a point. There's a spot at which if you've been too slow to reply for at least half of the preceding answers, you get a game over screen (you can check the story guide if you want the exact location). Bump up the the typing speed in the options if you think the game's too easy for this to be a threat :P
I thought it was a scripted game, and I thought the guy would give up and leave before you could write, but I guess I missed that point, as writing before the timer runs out is the whole point of the game. Since no one else was leaving except for that guy, I thought it was okay. I think it might be better to point out when the player is doing something wrong.
Huh, interesting feedback. 3/4s of the characters do something when you don't finish typing in time, whether that's telling you to be faster or not letting you finish, but I guess you didn't notice this for 2 of them? I'll have to check with playtesters on this topic specifically when I update the game post-jam, it's not at all a problem I expected players to have. Thanks for sharing :)
Really liked the game’s style, it reminded me a lot of Deltarune or Undertale. The story was engaging and had a nice touch of humor. Overall, it was a great experience. Awesome job!
Funnily enough, the style of the graphics were actually inspired by the game Knight Lore, but when they were all done, I too had a moment of realization that they were reminiscent of Undertale, haha (never played or seen clips of Deltarune gameplay, so can't comment on that). Glad you enjoyed it!! <3
Eyestrain on the game page is relaxed with the larger images surroundeed by more black space in the actual game.
The character design is otherwise appealing. I feel myself wanting the characters to get out of the company and find better jobs!
Tho anyone who has really worked in an office like this will guess what to do and what not to do.
On that note, I have mixed responses to being called “Computer” for basic admin tasks I’ve been paid for in the real world (before inaccurate AI replace people who could move paper files around, troubleshoot printers, and argue about redaction).
The fantastical premise creates some helpful emotional distance from the dehumanizing horror of the situation, but still, replacing the bot characterization with a less realistic demon or sprite might have prevent built-up frustration (to maybe real trauma) coming into play. Anyway, a clearer indication of the player’s role might help as a content warning.
Originally I had plans to have a low contrast option that got cut due to time, this makes me want to bring that option back when I do my post-jam-voting update. Good to know your thoughts!
It was my friend Madeleine rather than myself who wrote the story, so take everything I say about the story with a grain of salt. :)
I also dislike the trend of replacing people with AI. Even ignoring other issues, its nondeterministic nature is especially icky to me in the context of the job market, you can't just expect it to work. That's part of why I like how this game doesn't really have a good ending, just endings where the computer sometimes listens to the human characters and doesn't listen other times. I hope some element of the message "you (human characters) can't rely on GenAI" is felt.
Interestingly enough, my worry with the story was that it was humanizing the computer rather than dehumanizing the player. Really fascinating to me that you had this interpretation although it sounds like it wasn't a positive experience...I'll have to think on this.
I've updated the description to clearly state you play as a computer---thanks for that suggestion, I didn't think enough about adding content warnings. I'm not great at tagging things, so let me know if there's anything else specific I should do :)
Thanks for the feedback!!
Do I need to write here?