fun little game you impliment the mecanics well
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Refurbished signal's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #9 | 4.263 | 4.263 |
| Mechanics | #21 | 3.737 | 3.737 |
| Fun | #26 | 3.632 | 3.632 |
| Aesthetics | #34 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Sound | #38 | 3.474 | 3.474 |
| Story | #50 | 3.053 | 3.053 |
| Overall | #60 | 3.421 | 3.421 |
| Music | #153 | 2.368 | 2.368 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game in total?
1
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
tv
Comments
The atmosphere in Refurbished Signal is commendable, effectively creating a tense and eerie environment. However, the gameplay loop feels repetitive, and the lack of clear instructions may leave players uncertain about objectives. The absence of sound during key moments, such as the voiceovers, detracts from the immersive experience. Additionally, the game's pacing could benefit from more engaging interactions to maintain player interest. If you have a moment, I'd appreciate it if you could check out and rate my Halloween jam game too: /jam/gamedevtv-halloween-jam-2025/rate/3971977
dude, you reviewed me a second time :D ill give your game a second go, maybe i'll finally be able to do something about that damn radio. and get second ending (btw i also have 2 major endings (and 2 minors))
regarding your review, yes all are valid points, but i just could not find the pace, could not find the fun in my concept.
regarding voiceover. WHY? TT____TT why no one can hear my terrible voiceover, yes I'm no VA, yes i did to much distortion fx, yes it very quite, but it should've been audible, have you heard other sound?
283 days ago(+1)
ye sorry this is happening often im sorting doing so much cause im busy tomorow and the dday after so ive got millions of stuff going on with the jam and its getting hectic but ye. so far im on about 160 rated!
first of all thank you for your time, kindness and honesty
yeah you got the feeling I was going for that makes me happy
but what do you mean "having a sound for when that voice was talking to you" ? i voiced over all the lines, maybe it was to quite and people did not hear it compared to other sounds.
"you just die of a heart attack at the end" - there is a hint in game how to avoid it, and i also added detailed explanation in game description, there are basically 4 endings: "you get fired", "you get heart attack", "you get to asylum", "you keep you job, and decide its a good job"
I personally play other peoples games for half an hour or more, and read descriptions carefully to not skip anything people put their hard work in. And to see that for people a 1 min read and 2x6 min game (both major endings) is too much, is honestly disheartening. I guess my game is THAT boring. I mean i get where the people are coming from, when i was testing my game, the 2 min day felt like half an hour. And games should hook the player, make player WANT to spend more time and explore all secrets, not bore them out of their minds, and failed to do that, that really is on me, I really tried honestly, i just couldn't make it fun.
This wasn't a dis or rant, just some of my thoughts, anyway thank you, for pointing out my flaws and sharing your experience. I believe reviews should be like this, honest and detailed.
Oh man I'm sorry I missed the voiceover. Yeah I couldn't hear anyone speaking at all. Since there are four endings, I'll give it another shot today and crank up the volume. I do want to give you a fair shake.
I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my feedback. I've gotten a lot of feedback this game jam. At least 4 times (if not 5 at this point) as many people have rated my game as in any previous jam I've entered. A lot of people complained about the "trick" mechanic making certain levels more difficult - which was the point, but I didn't mention it in my game description because I wanted it to be a surprise. While most people seemed to enjoy the surprise, I think it killed my ratings with some people. And I appreciate the people who read my replies to their reviews and in some cases adjusted their ratings.
So I will go back later today. :) I really did love the Half-Life feel of the game.
Ok, so I cranked the volume and I did hear the voiceover. It sounded like Charlie Brown's parents. I managed to have another heart attack, but got 20 sorted correctly the first day. And I managed to get fired. Also, I checked my rating for your game and I gave you 5 stars across the board except for fun and overall (because the fun wasn't maxed.) I did up the fun rating though after the replay. Just because I had feedback doesn't mean I didn't like your game. Sorry if that was unclear.
FWIW, I had played and rated over 90 games in this jam by the time I found yours. As of me coming back, I've rated 108 games. If I took a half hour playing each game like you do, that'd be 54 hours just playing the games so far - not counting the time to leave comments. I try to leave copious commentary on what I liked, constructive criticism and words of encouragement. I do try and complete every game I play if there are discrete levels, and I do try to experience fully every game I play. Plus I go back and play any games where there were the creators give me context, help, or fix bugs. So far my response rate was almost 100% the first day or so, and it's fallen to about 50% as of today. We'll see how it stands at the end of the weekend because I know people have lives and a lot of people vote at the end.
sorry my comment came out wrong, I did meant it that way, i was just frustrated with my self and it all kinda leaked in comment, it wasn't about you, or your feedback, i appreciated your feedback and i said you were right. and its not about stars, please no need to give me more stars than i deserve. Its about people ignoring parts of game i poured my time in. but i know its deserved. Its like when you talk to someone and than see they don't listen, and you start questioning the situation and yourself, is it the wrong audience or something wrong with what you are saying. ever happened to you?
No worries. I do in fact think you deserved the rating I gave you. Trust me, I do not have a problem giving people 1-star ratings.
I find jams to be supportive, and I was just trying to make sure I came across as supportive. I work in software development for a living and have been reviewing code for years. I tend to be clinical and harsh in code reviews because it's not about feelings - just about getting work done. But in that situation the people I'm reviewing code for know me personally and know I'm not an asshole, and that I'm trying to improve their code and create what is needed for the final product.
The thing about game development that keeps me going is knowing that as long as it's fun for me - that's what matters. I usually score low in game jams. The best I've ever done was 20th place and that was for a game I spent a month on. But even though I wish I'd done better, I was really proud of what I had made. In my last game jam my game hardly worked and I didn't even get enough ratings to rank. In this one people have pointing out the same three things to me, and they were all things I knew about when I submitted the game. However despite the shortcomings, I'm really proud of what I managed in this jam.
And yes, that questioning has happened to me. I have learned that when I am upset to look at myself and why I'm upset. Usually it's either because they're pointing out something that I also think is true but don't want it to be true, or I am afraid of losing their good opinion. That's me anyway.
As to the wrong audience, this is really the first game where I made the gameplay central to my work. It was often non-existant or tacked on after making cool cutscenes, intros, or graphics. If you look at my Post Mortem for Prisoner 42 I spent way too much time applying pretty shaders to models the player never even gets to encounter because I forgot to put lights in tyhe dungeon and I had never done a shooter and my bullets didn't work. I like the intro though. and the first level isn't bad. After every game jam I'm in, I play the top like 20 to 30 games. And what I've learned is that gameplay matters more than anything else to voters in a jam. That's why I picked a platformer for this jam. I prefer RPGs with good story personally.
Thanks, apreaciate it mate
yeah i just had base idea of sorting cursed TV, but than got confused about what the main mechanic and drive had to be, sorting was just boring. so hearrate came, did everything the last moment had no time to properly balance an explain, so i guess i just will repeat what i told bat754
heart attack, yeah, i needed to make it more obvious i thought of adding number of BPM but than thought it would break immersion. emersion my @ss if the game is unplayable >.< so, here is the jist of it: base bpm 80, each time static appear +30bpm, each second -5bpm, static will start appearing after you grab the tv, so you can listen to voice and "dont pick it up".
You really should try day 3 again, the 6 min wait (each day is 2 min) is worth the grand finale of cursed ending.
thanks, i really appreciate your time
well yeah, using rigid bodies was weird decision on my part, but once all the bugs and obviousness of my mistakes started surfacing it was too late and i had other things on my plate.
you guess absolutely right, when player holds tv all physics is paused, and when it put back on conveyor physics resumed, and even though i zero out the velocity some jank remain. but as i said too much on my plate and i also decided this jank was kinda fun.
heart attack, yeah, i needed to make it more obvious i thought of adding number of BPM but than thought it would break immersion. emersion my @ss if the game is unplayable >.< so, here is the jist of it: base bpm 80, each time static appear +30bpm, each second -5bpm, static will start appearing after you grab the tv, so you can listen to voice and "dont pick it up".
You really should try day 3 again, the 6 min wait (each day is 2 min) is worth the grand finale of cursed ending.
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