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GoedWare Game Jam Limited Shapes Edition (+ prizes 🏆)

Hosted by GoedWare · #GoedWareGameJam
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A jam submission

The Exam ScamView game page

Chemistry exam chaos meets arcade paper-cutting mayhem. One sheet. Two idiots. Endless scribbles.
Submitted by Trickylady (@evelynemuselle), iRad Dev — 3 hours, 38 minutes before the deadline
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The Exam Scam's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio / Sound Design#243.1923.192
Gameplay / Fun / Engagement#253.1923.192
Overall#343.1253.125
Art Style / Visuals#352.9622.962
Theme#393.1543.154

Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Game Engine / Tools
Godot

How does your game fit the theme?
DISCLAIMER: I'm asking to ignore the existence of the cinematic, as in order to play the game you don't really need to know the backstory. Backstories just make it a more wholesome experience. It's added as a bonus. It's not necessary at all to play the game.

I noticed most didn't add one. The few who did added it as text on their itch page. How simple that may sound... I did not think of doing that.

Even though the original idea was to add a full - according to the shapes - cinematic. My original coder never showed up and I was stranded with just having the narrator sound files and no idea if creating anything for this jam would've been useful, as I wanted to avoid forcing people to waste their time on rating an unpolished possibly broken game.

Iraddev picked up on my concept only 2 days before the ending of the jam.

--- --- --- --- ---

- Scissors movement: Built entirely on the pentagon. Each cut follows the sides of a regular pentagon (bottom line, angled sides, roof, etc.). This keeps gameplay tied directly to the jam’s shapes.
- Dots: Perfect circles, no funny business.
- This game actually takes LIMITED SPACE literally! Timmy’s only hope of passing his chemistry exam is slicing away as much of Paul’s scribble-space as possible!

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Comments

EmperorZoldyckSubmitted318 days ago

First of all, I’m really sorry that you had to go through that trouble with your team at the start. I hope this experience didn’t frustrate you to the point of losing motivation because you all did a fantastic job with what you managed to deliver.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the game is the art, which is absolutely spectacular. Even though it breaks the restriction rules in the cutscene, I completely understand your side of it—it’s not part of the main game, and we can play just fine without it. After all, I love stories too haha, and yours was great. It really added a much deeper context to the game and made everything a lot more fun.

Besides the shapes in the cutscene, something I noticed is that when we cut the papers, they also break the rules of the limited shapes, since they take on forms other than pentagons and circles. I get that your intention was good when you created the mechanic of cutting at pentagon angles, but in practice, the limitation is still broken, unfortunately. A possible solution to this could be allowing us to cut in a pentagon shape but with control over its scale—so we could enlarge, shrink, or even rotate the angle as needed. I know it would be practically impossible to cut a full pentagon with just a pair of scissors, but if someone can write with just one finger, then anything is possible haha.

Even though there’s no tutorial, I was able to figure out how to progress through the game by intuition, though I didn’t necessarily understand what each upgrade did (but I still tried to grab them because they were cool, and I imagined they’d be useful for something). It would be great to have a small, quick, and simple tutorial explaining what each item does, even if it’s not part of the main story. This would really help players who feel more comfortable with a little extra explanation about the controls.

It’s definitely a great project. Despite the challenges you faced, you managed to bounce back and deliver something playable and fun, albeit a bit difficult. You should be proud of that, as it’s already a big win.

Congratulations on the game! I wish you the best of luck in the jam and success in your career as a developer!

Submitted
The Game of Pentagons
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper318 days ago

Thanks for the review EmperorZoldyck,

I see, but I don’t consider the rules broken. To clarify: The paper background is actually considered the “floor”. It’s the flat plane that the dots move over. The rules include an exception for the mouse and “one flat ground plane or floor.” which can have different shapes. It's indeed not grass, clouds, a map, or space background, but it is still a floor. I do feel like the reason is in fact: "for gameplay purposes" (and not aesthetics). I understand that the others did not decide to do anything with those exceptions, but I did. 😉


The scissor movement and cutting is based on every angle of the pentagon as well. 


You start with being forced to cut like step 1, once you cut you get the horizontal one like step 2, ... We originally started with the horizontal one, but that was deemed a bit too hard.

In the overlay to your left it shows the boosts you picked up and says what they do:


* The rotating of the scissors is not available yet, I forgot to leave that text out. My bad!

I noticed during testing that many players (especially those used to action games) instinctively click right away, because they expect something bad will happen if they wait too long. A couple even thought the dots would grow larger or suddenly speed up increasing the difficulty. And since there’s paper and scissors involved, some imagined there might even be a rock that might chase them (rock–paper–scissors 😅). I understand why it get's confusing, especially since a lot of other jam entries you might've played prior to mine used those kinds of mechanics.

But this isn’t the case here. First and foremost, it’s a puzzle game, with action/arcade elements layered on top. You don’t have to rush at all. You can tactically wait till the dots are in the right position . You can reconsider the location of where you want to cut at and even cut off tiny snippets to get a more suited scissor rotation for the remaining floor.

Once you’re familiar with it, you can set your own challenge:

  • Speedrun the game
  • Use as little cuts as possible
  • Use no boosts
  • Go for the highest score

There are only three levels, so reaching the end is absolutely doable, even if you choose to take on one of the added difficulties.

Both Iraddev and I put a lot of thought into how the game plays; from functionality, to what would feel fun and fair, to how it could stand apart from other jam entries, how it would stand out from other games inspired by the Qix-style “disappearing floor” idea, etc. It took a lot of trial and error and this is the result. I do hope you get the hang of it. 😉


The best of luck to you as well! 🖐️❤️

Reply
SoftDevSubmitted320 days ago (1 edit)

Good idea and fun concept for a game. I see that the game breaks the limitation, i understand it's only for a cutscene but still. I've also noticed that clicking the PG13 button at the start more than once, automatically triggers the exit button underneath, freezing the game. I also found it a bit difficult to understand the gameplay at first. Other than this, very nice subbmission keep it up! 👍👍

Submitted
Passfall
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper319 days ago(+1)

Hey softdev! Glad you figured it out by yourself, impressive! I've added the tutorial on the Itch page, because a lot of people weren't as clever as you were. 😊 Hope there's not something I missed and the explanation makes it clear? Glad you liked the game! As for the exit button, I'll make it so it has an animation when pushed down, that way you can see clearly it's a button and when it's pressed down. I admit it was a very last minute addition. As for now I'll leave you with this British meme. 😉


Reply
theLudovycSubmitted320 days ago

I never would have thought of this kind of gameplay. Thanks for this discover. Really good realization :) !

Submitted
LittleSuika
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper319 days ago(+1)

Hey Ludovyc! Thanks for the review. The game is based on an oldie but goldie: Qix (1981)! I know it doesn’t look much like it anymore, but there’s always inspiration to be taken from classic games and a vision for how their gameplay can be improved.

I’ve also added a tutorial on the itch page. Hopefully it makes things much clearer now and helps you get through all 3 levels with ease. 😉

Reply
theLudovycSubmitted317 days ago

You did great :) !

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ZaySubmitted320 days ago (1 edit)

I thought this was such a cool concept, and reminded me of a pac-man 'spinoff' game i loved as a kid (pacxon). The power ups were great for balance, and the cutting motion was very smooth and satisfying. the game was bang on the theme of limited space. Also, the story was really funny haha. Gg

Submitted
Collide-agon
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper320 days ago

Thank you so much for the review, Zay! We appreciate it! 😊 Game on buddy! Glad you managed to grasp the concept! A lot of people found it difficult to understand, so happy you did well! 😅

Reply
dutchlishSubmitted322 days ago (1 edit)

F***in' nailed it, shame you didn't make the intro characters out of circles and pentagons though innit. Only mark down though, otherwise it's proper 'avin' it. Bosssh. 

Submitted
Five
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper322 days ago

Bedankt voor de review, Dutchlish! Ja, ik had de cinematic backstory beter, zoals de andere, ook onderaan op de itch pagina geschreven. Nu neemt helaas iedereen punten weg, voor een extra bonus die helemaal niet nodig is om het spel te spelen. Jammer!

Veel succes nog!

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dutchlishSubmitted322 days ago

Ah je bent Nederlands! Grappig genoeg kom ik zelf uit Londen maar woon al 20 jaar in Nederland, - maar je heb mijn accent onder de knie ;) Jij ook succes nog! 

Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper319 days ago

Nee, hoor! 😉 de stem is FinIsFine, hij is wel 100% Brits. Ik heb wel het script geschreven dat ie moest voorlezen. 

Reply
kingparkSubmitted323 days ago

Really creative idea for gameplay that fits the theme. It does feel like I'm just being thrown into the deep end of the gameplay though without much of a ramp up to explain the game mechanics. It would have been nice to at least have a how to play screen, or a how to play section in the description. For instance, how do you collect the collectibles like the 1-ups. I know there are explanations for a lot of things on the screen when the gameplay starts, but things are small and not where the actual gameplay is happening, also, things are not fully explained. I figured it things out eventually, but definitely felt pretty overwhelmed at first.

As some others have mentioned, while the visuals are great, it's hard to agree that this game sticks to the limited shape requirements. Which is a shame that will mean your jam rating won't be as high as they could've been had this jam not used the shape requirements.

Good job to you and your team!

Submitted
Spikescape
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper322 days ago

Thank you for the review, Kingpark. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. I realize the concept turned out to be a bit too complex to simply “pick up and play” without some extra explanation. I’m sorry it left you feeling overwhelmed at first. If you have ideas on how the mechanics could be presented more clearly in game, I’d love to hear them, since that’s definitely something I want to improve.

The story is: 

You're Timmy. You have your exam questions to answer which are written on the blackboard, but you forgot to bring empty paper to write them on. You find one on the floor. Sadly, Paul also saw that paper. Even though, you grabbed it, he's attempting to write on it (the balls = his pencil's points). Now, does Paul have many pencils? Absolutely. Can he hold em in each separate finger? Also absolutely. Paul's quite possibly the most talented right and left hand writer you can imagine! You solve the issue by trying to cut off as much of the paper as possible, without getting hit by Paul's pencil pointers while cutting. 

At level 1 the narrator says: "Grab your scissors and try to cut off as much of the paper as possible. Careful! Don't touch his pencil points, yeah.". This is the one single tutorial sentence. Hehe. 😅

  • The1-ups are your lives. You can grab some extras during the game if you're lucky.
  • Adderall helps you focus and cut faster (ADHD medication) - keyboard button A
  •  Xanax slows down Paul's pointers (calming medication) - keyboard button X 

I have both ADHD and an anxiety disorder myself, so I know all about how frustrating exam periods can be. How you wouldn't dare to ask the teacher for some item you've forgotten to bring (mainly my calculator or ruler), how incredibly easy it is to lose focus on the questions, and how chaotic the others in the classroom can be, disrupting your work. I've also played Qix (1981), which inspired a lot of 'background-falls-away' games, including this one. 

You can play in 3 ways: 

  • Go boost-free
  • Get the highest score
  • Speed run for best time

Of course with the main objective being: beat the game! This adds difficulty of your own choosing. 

Everything follows the rules:

  • You quite literally limit Paul's space
  • The UI - pentagon shaped overlay, lives and boosts shown as circles
  • Menu - buttons in pentagon shape
  • Game  - 2 backgrounds, both with pentagon shapes on them, Paul's pointers as circles, boosts as circles

Everything is entirely made with just pentagons, circles or text and the scissors slice the paper following the sides of the pentagon. The allowed exceptions were the mouse (scissors) + one floor (paper). Nothing messes with the rules. So, ratings are cast on personal preferences: you not liking the art / sound / chosen keyboard buttons (which does support all keyboards types).

I'm asking to ignore the existence of a cinematic. As in order to play the game you don't really need to know the backstory, it just makes it more wholesome that a game has a story. So, it's added as a bonus. I don't really want to lose points over something that wasn't necessary to play the game. I noticed most didn't add one. Some added it at the description on the bottom of their itch page, or just added it as text on a black background. Mine was mainly written to go with an animation. 

I'm Belgian and Iraddev is Italian, so we couldn't quite redo the narrator voice to fit a black background; as we both have strong, absolutely non-British accents and my microphone quality wasn't quite up to that challenge. 😅

The idea and sound files sat unused for most of the jam, since the original coder disappeared. Iraddev saved the project by agreeing to it with only 2 days of the jam time remaining. I did not manage to make an 'according to rules' cinematic within that time span, neither would I be able to  get the narrator, who I had already cancelled, to tape and send me more sound files.

Thanks again for your kind words on the visuals and your honest feedback, it really helps us polish things further!

Reply
Agent AmianSubmitted324 days ago
Mechanics is interesting, executed well, and applied the theme nicely. I like how there is a choice for PG rating. Shape arts are good in gameplay and UI. The is so well made and polished. Made in two days is hard to believe unless there are premade assets involved. Overall, this is a good entry.
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper323 days ago(+1)

No pre-mades, no sleep, +3 hours. My mental state is still questionable. Sadly, only 3 levels and there's 3 mistakes / bugs which nobody noticed so far. 😉 Also, 1 Easter egg! 

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TripleJ DevSubmitted324 days ago

The cutting mechanic was a really clever take on the limited space theme! Also way to go above and beyond on the graphics, music and intro cutscene. The rules on which shapes can be included seemed pretty strict so I'm curious how the organizers will handle it. Great job with the game though!

Submitted
Shape Escape
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper324 days ago

Thanks a lot for the thoughtful review, Triplej4!
If you set aside the little bonus cinematic, everything fits within the rules. The exceptions are one floor and the mouse, which were allowed. The cinematic wasn’t really necessary, but I thought scissors cutting away paper with Paul’s pen pointers bouncing around deserved at least some backstory. Without it, I worried people might just wonder what on earth these odd little shapes were doing on the page and why there was no rocks (rock - paper - scissors). 😅 I didn't really have the time to attempt drawing all that and animating it within the time limit and with the given shapes. Mainly the classroom background and desk would've been an issue. I wasn't familiar with animating before this.

All that said, I’m really proud of how much we packed into just 2 days; the mechanics, code, visuals, music, even a bit of atmosphere. Super glad you noticed those details! And by the way, I had a lot of fun playing your game too, you did a great job there! 😊

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PBA StudiosSubmitted325 days ago

This is a really lovely (well maybe lovely isn't exactly the word when doing the pg-13 version lol) game, I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough. The writing is full of humor and British-ness (which I won't hold against you) and is genuinely enjoyable throughout. The gameplay is very well-executed and fun, the power ups are an excellent addition. It reminds of Web of Vernax, one of my favorite Neopets minigames as a kid. The art direction is incredible, I saw in another comment that you've studied Multimedia stuff, and it is very obvious, everything comes together in a cohesive and very charming package. 5/5 easy on the art. Background music is a bop and the guest voice over is a super cool touch in a jam.

I'm a bit torn on the theme. On one hand you absolutely crushed it, the gameplay fits "Limited Space" perfectly. On the other hand, even though you said to disregard the opening cutscene, its still an important part of the game, and adds a ton to the overall vibe and ambiance. It feels unfair to just ignore the blatant use of other shapes throughout, when other games had to conform to the limitation.

Overall, this is a wonderfully polished and impressive game and I really only have good things to say. You have a great eye for design and this is a really fun, well-executed project, definitely one of my favorites in the jam!

Submitted
Crop Circles
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TrickyladyDeveloper322 days ago(+1)

Thank you for the lovely review PBA studios! Your game was also very artsy! Love that! 

I indeed studied a course of Multimedia (all media / movie industry) in high school, never really had the money to continue it in university. Also never managed to get a job with since graduating in 2014. I thought moving along to game development was the next logical step in learning skills which make finding a job really hard. 😅😂

I'm asking to ignore the existence of a cinematic, as in order to play the game you don't really need to know the backstory, it just makes it more wholesome that a game has a story. So, it's added as a bonus. I don't really want to lose points over something that wasn't necessary to play the game. I noticed most didn't add one. Some added it at the description on the bottom of their itch page. I should've probably done that too. 😊

The lovely British FinIsFine did the voice. The British humor is inspired by 'Cunk on Earth' and Ricky Gervais' series and comedy shows, which I both really love. 

Good luck to you too, PBA!

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kkcnSubmitted326 days ago

Yeah, what I didn't expect today is to be cursed at, British-style, but here we are :)

 So let's get to the good things first. Any game with voice acting gets points from me, and your was genuinely funny. This- plus the ska background music, plus fitting sfx, and you have pretty much the perfect sound for this game.

Take on the theme is also perfect- space gets limited, affects the gameplay, game gets harder, powerups help. Nice. The difficulty is perfect too- it took me a couple of tries to get to the end, but I made it. The option to start from the level you lost at would be cool.

Now, I know you want us to disregard the intro, but no can do. First- it worked for the vibes you went for! Second- sorry, but those saggy tits should have been made of pentagons.

Submitted
Work-life balance IN SPACE
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper325 days ago (1 edit)

Well... that was your choice, "innit". 😛 In the family friendly version you could've been going through life as an "adorable kidney stone" or a "majestic lawn chair", but you chose violence! Just like a Venus flytrap, you could've lived a casual life getting all your nutrients from soil and... "FLY!!!!".  Yup. 

Putting the ska samples together and making a looping tracks with them took quite some time! Really glad you liked them! As it's more of an arcade style puzzle game, I didn't quite know if ska would be the way to go. 

We 'cut' quite some stuff to get the difficulty to become playable and sadly ended up with only 3 levels instead of 5 and no option to just replay the level. I do feel like it worked out, though.  The continue button is in the files, but was never implemented. 

Thank you for the lovely review, Kkcn! I appreciate it! I'm sorry you like your saggy tits more pentagon shaped! I did the best I could with the time I had. 😋 Best of luck with your own entry!

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SherlockliniSubmitted326 days ago

Your game is really nice, with an engaging idea and strong game play! Fun power-ups, an excellent use of sound.... Could be a winner. However, the inclusion of forbidden shapes and NSFW content in your entry breaks jam rules, which prevents me from giving full points in visuals despite the otherwise polished presentation.

Game play / Fun / Engagement ●●●●●
The game play is great. I really enjoyed cutting the papers while dealing with the restrictions of the balls and using the power-ups strategically. It feels engaging and makes you want to refine your approach, which keeps it fun and rewarding. For me, this deserves a full 5 out of 5.

Art Style / Visuals ●●●○○
Your game looks really good and clearly had a lot of effort put into it. However, you definitely used forbidden assets The intro is full of them... you can mention to not vote on that, but narratives are part of a game, no matter what. Even within the game there’s a scissor (I know that it the mouse pointer, but if you change it, than why not create a scissor using the given shapes?) Because of that, I can only give visuals 3 out of 5, even though the presentation itself is very strong!

Audio / Sound Design ●●●●●
The audio is excellent. I really liked the voice overs, and the music and SFX fit well, especially the cutting sounds, which add a lot. 5 out of 5.

Theme ●●●●●
The theme is applied very well. The limited space constraint comes through clearly in how you have to cut within restrictions and manage the challenges. Combined with the game play, this interpretation feels creative and essential, so it’s a full 5 out of 5.

Submitted
Loop Trap
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper325 days ago

Thank you so much for the positive review, Sherlocklini! I really appreciate it! 

  • You can decide whether you want the cheeky version or the family friendly one at the very beginning, the black screen which tells you to pick your poison. I *bleep bloop bleep*'d  everything out and replaced it with... well... everything in.  

I just didn't have the sound files for the family friendly version made, never sent that script over to the narrator.  My original team mate who was going to do the coding seemed to have vanish from the surface of the interwebz and I presumed the project would be a no go. I'm thinking he's probably on a cruise to visit the mythical island of Avoidance, probably sipping piña coladas with the fine folks from “Haha Got Ya.”

BUUUUT... Iraddev swooped in and saved the day!  We only had the 2 days left to create the game jam entry at that point. I figured a lot of people wouldn't understand the concept and I added the bonus narrative cinematic to hopefully solve that issue. It's drawn with a mouse, there was no time to copy pasta the 2 shapes required to make everything with; which couldn't be warped nor adjusted, on top of learning how to animate. 😅I did actually have a few seconds left, but I spent them on giving Timmy just that one extra pimple. My bad, sorry, about that! There were also some bugs that needed to be worked out. Since Iraddev did the majority of the coding, this is purely speculation, but I think it was a ladybird and 2 crickets.

Glad you like to ska out!  Ska is definitely not dead! ♫ pam pam pim pum pam ♫ ♪

Best of luck with you own project, Sherlocklini! ❤️ 👍


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Beautiful Mind Games326 days ago (2 edits)

It’s hands down the best game in the jam, rules be damned. Or up, because I surrender and want to withdraw my entry now. I wish I hadn’t been so generous rating other games (lol), because I cannot award 6 stars to this one. The game’s itch.io page alone is enough to win the competition. And this is the only game I have bookmarked, because I do want to play it again. It reminds me of Xonix – the favorite game of my (much) earlier years.

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TrickyladyDeveloper322 days ago

Hey Beautiful! I gave Xonix a google and it is indeed also based on Qix, as is mine. 😊 Glad you enjoyed it! We'll add a scoreboard and more levels to it after the jam and we will fix those pesky bugs nobody noticed. 😉 I saved your game to try and finish at a later time as well.  All the love!

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SamiserSubmitted327 days ago

i am absolutely blown away that this is your first ever game!!! have you really never made a game before? its mad impressive, and in only two days it's unbelievable. i really liked the actual game itself, and the lil narrative intro is cute and fun but unfortunately it is all made of illegal shapes! also one of the rules is no nsfw content, so even though it's optional i think it still technically violates that.

i would say in future focus more on sticking to the spirit of the jam (limited shapes and limited space), but again i am so impressed that this is your first ever game. it was really fun, polished and well executed. great work!!!

Submitted
pyraball
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper326 days ago(+1)

Oh that's real sweet, Samiser! Thanks for the review!

I did not make any games before and it's a bit questionable whether I "made" this game, since iRad did the coding so well. I studied Multimedia Operator (film, sound, equipment, photography, acting, directing, writing…) + Desktop Publishing (brochures, newspapers, flyers…) back in 2010, so I know how most Adobe CS5 programs function. I did the art, music, concept, scenes, script, texts, and adjustments to the code.

iRad is the real hero who coded my explanations into a functional game in 2 days. The only coding I actually did was for the mouse and scene switches, teehee 😅 The entire code was explained to me and I understand it well, but I couldn’t have written it myself. 

Fun fact: even for the PG-13 version, I was going to duplicate all scenes and swap the media manually, but iRad caught me red handed and instead set it up with code so it just saves your choice. He saved everyone a ton of megabytes there!

As for the narrative scene: I totally get your point! I’d suggest treating the video like a little “bonus flavor cinematic trailer,” and then looking at the actual game itself, which is all nice and legal in the shapes department. That way, my jam entry still holds up in spirit. ^^

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SamiserSubmitted326 days ago

ahh that makes sense! well even so making all the stuff for a game other than the code is still a big challenge and you did fantastically for your first ever go, you should defo make more games!! would love to see what you can cook up with less/no restrictions.

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Wiz ProgrammerSubmitted327 days ago

Nice game, but these are my personal opinion about it so please don't mind I might be wrong

1) The scissors don't fit the shapes assigned

2) The could've used a little less on the slurs to prove how much of a hopeless guy that character was.

3) Music and animation is spot on in your game, but good animation isn't about making something with things people already know, so you could've improvised the characters in the animation a little bit to fit the shape constraint (I'm not saying your animation is bad!!)

4) The SFX after each finished level "Let's get more paper" -> could've been something else related to your game's lore/story at the "Thanks for playing screen", just saying...........don't mind though doing so would've have made players think about your game even after closing your game page even if it's for a minute......big titles often have that.....

Also after reading this comment if you aren't grumpy then please rate my game..........I'd appreciate all the flaws you'd state in my game page's comments..............

Submitted
CRUMBLE BLOBS
Reply
TrickyladyDeveloper327 days ago (1 edit)

Hey Wiz! No worries, I'll go check it out! ^^

1. Oh, I probably misunderstood, I thought they meant one single ground plane (paper) and the mouse (scissors) are exceptions to the rule and can have different shapes. English is not my first language I get confused sometimes. 😅


2. I just really wanted to push that British television feel. So, I sent my friend FinisFine the non-family friendly script and sfx. The person who originally was gonna help me out with the coding was a no-show. I presumed the gamejam wasn't gonna go anywhere and I didn't end up sending Fin the family friendly script. Then IRadDev swooped in and saved the day! It was my mistake. Which also gave extra work as I now had to blur out every curse word and change the text. 

3. Though, the narrative video shouldn't be judged, as it's more of a bonus, it doesn't follow the shape rules and it's not the tutorial. I have big regrets not just leaving it out. I struggled too much trying to draw the classroom and table items following the shape rules, they had to stay clearly recognizable and not stretched out or adjusted, it seemed impossible within the given time frame. I am flattered that you didn't think the animations were bad. Yay! [tomato cheeks] ^^

4. True! You're right. Can't argue with logic. Haha!

Thank you so, so, very much for the valuable input! I truly appreciated it and took it to heart. Very kind of you to take the time to write this review!

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Wiz ProgrammerSubmitted326 days ago

It's ok, I really liked your art. I'm a solo developer so I make all my stuff by my lone some since no one would team up with and in two consecutive jams the supposed team member backed out, so I can understand how you might've felt when your team member was a no show. Though you could've used a combination of all the shapes to make the tables like the provided pyramid for the legs and a 3D flat circle for the tabletop.  Anyway you did great....

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TrickyladyDeveloper326 days ago

Nah, can't warp anything. They really pushed the rules without a cinematic in mind.

But maybe...
"I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids. " 
- Scooby-Doo 😉

Good luck, Wiz! 👍


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Deleted postSubmitted327 days ago
Deleted 192 days ago
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TrickyladyDeveloper326 days ago

Hey Marshulets! Awesome to see a review from you too! Thanks for giving it a spin with your friend! I’ve never heard of Fat Slice before, so now I’m super curious what they did to keep it engaging. I tried to hunt down a working link, but without luck. Most flash games seem to have vanished into the same black hole as my free time, lol. 😁

As for inspirations; Qix (1981) is kind of the granddaddy of this whole 'the background falls away' genre. A lot of games stand on its shoulders, and I think the concept still has so much potential to be fiddled with. I'm keeping this tradition alive! Hopefully with enough polish and flair that it earns me an extra star in your heart. 😉

The narrative cinematic video is just a bonus video. I did make sure to make the game itself, menu, UI, etc. all stick to the shape restrictions. Upon testing it, nobody understood the idea of the game. I felt like it did needed a narrative backstory. The shape restrictions made it very tricky to create one, especially in a fashionable time span. I'm technically a Desktop Publisher; the person who puts the designs made by others together and does the layouts for magazines to get them ready for printing. I gave it a lot of extra spark by testing my drawing skills and learning how to animate. But, it was a bit disheartening that this animation stood out more than the game itself. Glad you at least liked the art! 😊

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SOURSTONE SRLSubmitted327 days ago

I quite liked the game idea. Its quite challenging and it makes you play just a bit more and more.
Well done!

I do feel like the art is not compatible with the game jam theme tho. =/ 

Submitted
Bubble Invasion
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TrickyladyDeveloper327 days ago

Thank you so much, Sourstone! You're right, I shouldn't have added the narrative video and should've spent more time on the menu art, made better music and gameplay art, and adding more boosts / ideas. It's my first gamejam;I underestimated the pressure the time limit places on a project and what a hassle it was going to become to try and explain the concept and idea behind the game in text, sound, pentagons and circles only. It's sad that the best aspect of my game is the part that doesn't count and can't be judged.

Looking back at it, the game itself was just a bad idea. I should've played safe with a popular preexisting concept that required no explanation and added to that.  Still, I learned a lot through it; animations, functions, buttons, text, the whole process. Maybe some other time I’ll manage something that lives up to the idea in my head and can get somewhere close to your entry quality. ^^ Thanks again for playing! Good luck!

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SOURSTONE SRLSubmitted327 days ago

No, I think you misunderstood me. The narrative should be there and I do not think its the best aspect of the game.
The best aspect of the game is the game itself. 
In my playthrough I haven't used boosts that much, so I do not think adding more of them is necessary. 

There is much to say, but I'll try to keep this short.
Sometimes less is more. And it seems to me that in this case more was less. Simpler characters, mby something south park style, would have respected the theme. Some of the menu pieces could have been made in simpler ways  such that it respected the theme and probably it would take less time to make.  

The game is more then great for your first game jam, I played it a few times. Finishing it is more important than anything during a game jam.
Congratulations for making it to the end! There are many who give up along the way...

Try not to judge yourself too harshly. Learning and discovering more about games should always be your primary objective during a game jam. In my opinion ofc =D

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TrickyladyDeveloper319 days ago

At first, all I had was the narrator audio, my coder disappeared right when the jam started. I didn’t want to just throw out some broken mess and waste people’s time testing and rating that, so I held off on making anything. Then, just 2 days before the deadline, Iraddev kindly stepped in to do the coding, and that’s when I rushed out all the art with just a mouse.

With so little time, I couldn’t add much detail or fix drawing mistakes. Backgrounds like the desk and classroom would've been especially tough to stick to the shapes. I do really love your South Park-style idea though, you clearly have a great creative eye. 😊

I feel quite guilty for undoing Irad’s hard work by squeezing in a completely unnecessary backstory cinematic. 😓

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Dennis Gaming StudioSubmitted327 days ago

Can not play way to many band shapes. Funny how you game fit the theme

Submitted
Shape Packer
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TrickyladyDeveloper327 days ago

Hey Dennis! Thanks for giving my game a try! It's my very first one, so I kinda panicked and indeed went a little overboard with adding that whole narrative video. Oof! Haha, rookie mistake. 😅 Any tips or ideas how to fix it? My brain is hella fried and I could obviously use some good tips, so I wouldn't make the same mistakes if I joined another jam. ^^

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