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The Selfish Gene's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #2 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
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
An intriguing and thought-provoking game that plays the theme like a theme. What does it mean to be human when your choices are slowly taken away from you? What if the war is already lost? I loved the ship’s hub-and-spoke design and how each iteration brings you a little closer to understanding what’s actually going on!
In this time loop game, the "approach" you take in each situation you encounter will affect both how the story unfolds and the hand of cards you have to play with. The game allows for the player to make intentional, strategic choices while dynamically expanding or narrowing their field of options (in sometimes surprising ways) in response to their actions. This constraint of having a limited number of cards for each "approach" was an interesting mechanic and seemed well-implemented. The story itself was fun and vividly written.
Once I got the gist of what was happening in the story, my actions were pretty focused on achieving the ending I wanted (even though I am pretty sure it was the "bad" ending 😅). Perhaps this was just the result of my choices unintentionally leading to an inefficient pathway through the game, but reaching a conclusion took quite a bit longer than I expected. I would've appreciated it if I had been allowed to (or able to?) reach a conclusion in fewer loops, and/or if the content within each subsequent loop had been truncated in some way so that you can effectively fast-track through repeated material to the decision points. (Each loop contains a substantial amount of prose to click through, and several actions that need to be taken.)
Regardless, this game was well-written, well-made, and a really substantial accomplishment for a short jam!
I agree with your points: though we didn't want to change the text on consequent loops (as the character only has a hint that it happens again) we've overlooked the experience of replaying a loop after loop for the player that wouldn't want to miss anything new. Definitely something to improve after the jam if we'll get to it.
In terms of "how long you're allowed to" - it's a bit differs from ending to ending. The one that, I think, you went for - indeed, required Loop 3(4?) to be able to pull it off, as it's not a conventional one, and the narrative was relying on it as well. While two other endings can be achieved on the first actual restart of the loop, as long as you know what to do - and that's some tricky nuance, haha.
But yup, that's something we just didn't have time to nail down, and where the player's feedback would be so crucial as well.
Thanks for playing and the good words!
wow, this is a serious game! at first i wanted to call out the sinister red violence card, always held, floating over my choices like the sword of you-know-what. but then so much more happened. you immediately assess the rooms and start seeing plays you can make with cards, and then each play you make changes the game in a big enough way that your plan changes, but small enough that things don't fall apart. frustrated with the ending i got, and felt like i was close to one i wanted. not enough violence cards in the world to bust into that hangar apparently, just enough to start a never-ending cycle. really impressive!
You described the feeling we wanted to get very well: chaotic enough at first with seemingly many options, but with some exploration painting the way you can choose to follow.
Sorry to hear you didn't get an ending you wanted! Hope you'll give it one more try at some point to confirm your theory how to get it. Though I'm very curious: did you get frustrated because expected something different?
And about the hangar - yeah, I thought it'd be obvious as it's closed the same as visited locations, but probably we shouldn't have kept it on the map at all.
Thanks a lot for the comment!
Took me a cycle or two to get into it, but I really enjoyed the unfolding puzzle (which I don't think I solved completely). The cards slowly shifting to show the change was a cool dynamic. I did really want to be able to drag the cards up into the slot to "play" them, but that's a minor detail.
Thanks for playing and a comment! Glad you've enjoyed it!
Yup, I wanted to add dragging the cards day one, but it went into a "nice to have" list and never went out of it - there was always something higher in priority.
> which I don't think I solved completely
That's what was very curious to see - how easy would people find it (as in our minds it was very straightforward). But yeah, you're on the final track, when you get a certain shiny card, that leads to the main ending(s).