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Life Is Shell's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #12 | 4.353 | 4.353 |
| Appeal | #18 | 4.176 | 4.176 |
| Theme | #50 | 3.941 | 3.941 |
| Overall | #115 | 3.588 | 3.588 |
| Fun | #222 | 2.853 | 2.853 |
| Silliness | #295 | 2.618 | 2.618 |
Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How did you interpret the theme?
You are a shell in a lonely desert. Master the timing and rhythm and drag yourself to town before you succumb to exhaustion!
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Comments
this is an eerie and interesting game
wow... this is the best game jam entry's I've ever seen. i love the art and atmosphere and the simple movement and idea come together to make a really interesting game, having the player do such a simple task and pairing it with this interesting style and a barren wasteland make it into a really cool atmosphere that i think is really cool, it reminds me of games like shadow of the colossus or that one 3d platformer game i can't remember at the moment something to do with a carpet person in the sand trying to reach the peak of a mountain i think. the controls feel like they have a lot of weight (in a good way) and make it slow paced makes the player think about what there doing. i love it 10/10 nice work :)
Thank you for taking the time to play and write such a thoughtful review! We're so glad to know our intentions came through. Achieving the slow pace, deliberate movement, and lonely atmosphere were our main goals with this one. I guess the "silly" part comes with the weird player and the unconventional mechanics. We're really proud of what we came up with and these kinds of comments are so heartwarming!
:) I'm glad. this game is really cool, keep up the good work and also i as going to ask what game engine do you use?
We actually used the LÖVE framework for gameplay (and the art was all done in Illustrator). We haven't messed around with any game engines yet but are interested in trying out Godot in the future.
cool, I love using Godot its super easy and fun hope you enjoy it and good luck with your game dev journey
I liked the art and atmosphere. I took me a while to understand how to start moving.
How long would you say it took? We wanted the movement to require careful, deliberate action, but it is certainly not immediately clear. We're working on how to better communicate that to the player, we hope you check out our future updates! Thank you so much for playing and commenting!
I think it took me around 10 minutes to figure the controls
Cool game! Loved the atmosphere and art. I feel there's a lesson here to be learnt, but cant put a my hand on it
We definitely appreciate a game that forces you to take it slow and think about what you're doing. I liked how one of the previous comments put it: "I wasted some time thinking I had to build up speed. Guess that's on me for wanting a snail to be fast:D"
The atmosphere is amazing and complements the gameplay perfectly! This game really highlights that game dev is a medium for art.
Thank you so much! Those are exactly the kind of games we want to make. We really leaned into our strengths on this one (between the artist and the coder, can you tell which of us is actually a professional??)
Everyone has pointed out the great atmosphere, art style, etc so I wont harp on that too much. Very unique that you used LÖVE. We don't see a lot of that even in game jams so that's a stand out. It comes with some downsides like if you click away you can't click back into the game and continue but the upsides are fast loading time and closer to "true" 2D world unlike unity which still creates a 3D world which limits what you can do without lagging the web based game.
Like some have pointed out, the mechanics are a little rough around the edges. There are controls at the start but there is nothing to teach players what constitutes a good grab vs a bad one or really how to minimize their energy use. I'm sure there are many people who have played it and ran into a looping issue of dying of exhaustion without knowing why until they just give up. It is important to give the player feedback so they know how to change what they are doing. for example, a rhythm game without the little "miss", "goods", and "perfects" text pop ups on success or any sound effects would make it difficult to nail down the timing.
Overall, fantastically unique and interesting game especially for your first!
knife digging into water melon as the sound effect is funny.
We are so grateful for your feedback; it's exactly the kind we were hoping to receive. Thank you for the compliments and the time you took to write all that out. We love this little game and want to see it take shape outside the confines of the 48-hour game jam. We've been thinking a lot about how to tighten up the code or expand on the visuals but it's been harder to identify those more fundamental principles of good game design that we can start to improve. You've given us a great place to start and the ideas are already flowing! Come back and check it out sometime!
I wasted some time thinking I had to build up speed. Guess that's on me for wanting a snail to be fast:D
Very cool game! I especially like the atmossphere, you tied it together really nicely!
It makes sense that you'd try for that! We definitely wanted to frustrate attempts to rely on conventions like that, so I guess mission accomplished haha. Hope you still had fun!
Love the atmosphere!
Thank you! We definitely went hard on setting the tone :)
I love the idea and the artstyle! To me the controls didn't feel really intuitive, but still a great game.
It's so hard to strike the right balance between challenging and intuitive! We're glad you still enjoyed it though, and thanks for taking the time to comment!
Great game! Love the art and I really enjoyed the movement mechanics!
I'm so glad you played! The movement was tough to get down and we're hoping to update after the game jam. Be sure to check it out!
I like the appeal! 5 stars art & sound combined to have a cohesive lonely & despair vibe.
ps: After failing to move several times, I realize there is sth wrong with my spacebar, but I finally make it!
I'm glad we were able to assist with diagnosing your keyboard issues! That said, very possible that it was an issue on our end. Really glad to hear the vibe landed! Thanks for playing!
So incredibly well made!
The theme, the art, the gameplay. I am such a big fan of this.
You two did a fantastic job, seriously.
thank you so much Cowbo 🥹
I love the style!
Thank you, we're really happy with it! Thanks for playing
Loved it, it's a work of art
The visuals and animation is all super good! just struggling with the movements tho
You'll get the hang of it! Thanks for the compliments, we're really proud of how it looks :)
the ambience, perfect! the visuals, amazing! A very interesting game mechanic too!I find it a bit difficult though lol so I never got to finish the game, but whatever surprises is there in town, I hope the people behind the screen of other shells get to see it. 💖
That was the sweetest thing ever! We hope you try again, it can feel rewarding to get the hang of. Check back some time and we should have some more content, too. Thank you for playing , looking forward to trying yours next!!
love the style, great work!
Thank you for playing! We felt the same about yours!
five stars Appeal
Aw, thank you!! We're really proud of it. Can't wait to play yours!
rreally cool concept! a bit of bugs were encountered where the moveing wouldnt work but still cool!
Thank you for the feedback! We did want the movement to be just a little frustrating and require some coordination, but the implementation was definitely not perfect. We're excited to work on it after the jam. Really glad you enjoyed and took the time to comment! Excited to play yours tonight!
thanks, and you're welcome!
Sick, great Work!!!
Thank you!! We really enjoyed your game too, it was wild and fun!