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Crackling Signals's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality | #217 | 3.545 | 3.545 |
| Presentation | #333 | 3.121 | 3.121 |
| Fun | #434 | 2.576 | 2.576 |
| Theme | #551 | 2.212 | 2.212 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game represent "Slick"?
The movement with the grappling hook is pure slickness
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Comments
The look you made for this game is so cool. I love these types of games!
I absolutely loved this game. Outer Wilds is probably my favorite game of all time, and this scratched that same itch in multiple ways. The ambiguous objectives propelled by the desire to solve a mystery, the complex physics based movement mechanics that take some time to master, even the visual style of the hot air balloon and record player remind me of the DIY Outer Wilds aesthetic.
The grappling hook kicks so much ass. It took me a bit to figure out, but once you've got it down, movement is a blast. If you posted under the controls section of the game's itch page that you can jump mid-grapple to launch yourself, it would go a long way towards getting people comfortable with grappling to islands, since discovering that was the main bit holding me back from progress.
I'm not sure how the game works behind the scenes, but you did a great job of trickling the objectives to the player. If you're lost on what to do next, the balloon will always happen to drift by a new island, which makes discovery feel satisfying.
My only complaint would probably be lack of tutorial in-game for the balloon and grapple mechanics, but this is only really a problem for a jam build. A game like this thrives in the "unknown", so I think leaving things ambiguous is totally fine for a full, fleshed out release.
Just by the nature of this sort of game, and the quick "give it a try" nature of game jams, you might get some people leaving mediocre ratings in certain categories because they "didn't get it" right away. But I don't want that to discourage you from exploring this game further. I love the vision you have here, it really clicked with me on all fronts, and I would easily play a full game of this. Great job! :) Take your perfect score and keep it up.
Also, wanted to point out that I gladly downloaded the "Window Sex Port" 😏 Didn't seem to have any Window Sex, but I'll keep looking.
And sorry for clickbaiting with window sex port. I had to somehow get more people to try the downloadable version.
Omg I can't express how happy this comment made me:) Outer wilds was an inspiration initially so it's great that someone picked up on that! Admittedly the game and the inputs are confusing, so I'm glad that you stuck through. Before the jam I told myself that this time I would try and attempt to make the game into a full release after, but that spark died down a little until now reading your comment which makes me reconsider again. Your comment is written with such thoughtfulness that it almost makes me blush haha. And that last paragraph is very true, sometimes I'm guilty of the same. I'll be sure to update the description on the game page like you recommend here. Again thanks for the feedback, this was very valuable!
Love the atmosphere and art style of the game. I was intrigued from the start, though found it a bit challenging to figure out the gameplay. Nice job though :)
Yeah the game doesn't explain itself well... Glad you still found enjoyment
I too have fell and tried to go back on the island grappling my way back to it, took a while but felt slick afterwards ;)
This game has a great atmosphere! I also love the feel of the grappling hook, spent way too long trying to launch myself back on an island after falling off :)
The grappling hook was indeed very slick. Glad to see another low-poly game submitted. Nice job! :)
the atmosphere and concept are really cool! For me I think I would have preferred if you were meant to spend a little more time on each island, but I could see how that might not have been as slick of an idea.
Initially I had the idea of each island being more unique but what we did here worked for the game and was easier to do so we went with it. Thanks for playing!
Really great graphical presentation, and interesting mysterious atmosphere. I echo what some others have said that the air movement feels a little tricky, but if I had a proper mouse instead of a trackpad I'm sure it would be easier for me to jump onto islands. I couldn't figure out how to stop the hot air balloon once I started it though? But very cool vibes.
Yeah I can imagine that a trackpad isn't the best. To stop the balloon you can drop the anchor down from the bottom of the basket, but it's very difficult to aim at the smaller islands. Thanks for playing!
I really love this sort of aesthetic, both graphically and in terms of the general premise.
I managed to figure out a lot by myself, but eventually got stuck and realised the itch page has instructions haha.
The game would probably flow better if it was easier to park the balloon and you didn't have to respawn so often. I suspect the grapple might also feel better if you had more air movement to give you some nice swings.
Overall really solid entry, I will definitely remember this one in the future as an inspiration :P
Yeah you have good points. The idea was to not have a need to use the anchor when collecting the vinyls, just grapple fast back and forth, but you're also correct that the grappling would probably work better if there was air movement. I appreciate you for going to the itch page to look for hints, the game isn't very clear with its objectives. We kinda ran out of time with making more in game guidance... Thanks for the praise and the detailed comment!
Yeah there wasn't much hope trying to anchor for most of the vinyls. I got lucky and managed to anchor one of them, but for the mostpart I tried to go back to the balloon like you said. But I quite often got stuck underneath vinyl islands for a while trying to get up lol, by which point the balloon is long gone.
Yeah it's not that easy haha. Sometimes I'll just abandon the vinyl and grapple back if I get stuck.
The music and visuals within this game are wonderful!
I wished I could control the aircraft.
You can't control hot air balloons in real life either haha
Unique trippy atmosphere that makes you want to explore! The art, shaders, music, and gameplay make it feel very dream-like.
That's what we were going for so thanks very much
Slick grappling hooks and gramophones! I love the idea of someone recording their adventure log on pressed vinyl :D
Haha yeah thanks!
I have no idea how to turn the air craft. And the grappling hook is very weak. I only managed to grab 3 records.
The balloon turns based on the height it's traveling at. I know that's not obvious but how come you think the grappling hook is weak? It works from super far away and pulls you with decent speed I feel.
Yes, but it doesn’t pull you in fast enough to get up on top of the structure. Especially at close distance.
Oh yeah it's a little difficult
Really neat! Great sense of place and general atmosphere. Also grappling hooks + hot air balloons is just a slick match. Also reminds me of those videos of the kids hopping off a boat in motion to deliver mail and then sprinting to get back on before the boat moves away lol.
Haha that's a good reference. Thanks for playing!
This one is really evocative. It has really great resonance. I was very captivated by this mysterious little world. Well done!
As others have said, really great vibes and mood. Riding a hot air balloon through this weird surrealist world and trying to quickly hop off to grab the records and then back on in time is a really cool gameplay loop. I'm definitely pretty bad at it haha, but I think I was mostly having a hard time figuring out the correct position to drop the anchor to make the balloon wait for me. The grappling hook is super fun though. I think if you could simplify the balloon a bit, you'd have something really special.
Thanks for playing. The idea with the small islands was to grapple there and back to the balloon fast without needing to use the anchor. The anchor helps with later islands that are bigger.
I really liked the atmosphere and the art direction. It took me a moment to understand the controls. My suggestion would be to add an in-game control reference (like a pop-up tutorial or a help screen) so players don't have to search for them in the game's description. All in all, I had a fun time traversing and exploring the world.
Yeah you are completely correct, but we just ran out of time with that. Thanks for playing!
!Definitely download the Windows version!
Moving around feels nice, not clunky at all for a week-long project. Took a little bit to figure out all the mechanics, especially when under an island desperately trying to get back on top haha!
The first time I bailed out to grab a record, i realized i had not dropped anchor and was sittingon a tiny banana island like:
Good thing I found the reset button.
But great experience overall, the best part was the graphics and the mood. Very well done!
Haha even for me that situation happens a lot. If you're fast enough you can grapple to the small islands and back without using the anchor.
loooooove the retro console graphic style!