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Born in 60 seconds's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Pregnancy Content | #4 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Gameplay | #5 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Creativity | #6 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Overall | #7 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Jam Theme | #9 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- A few minor nitpicks with an otherwise wonderful game! I quite enjoyed this game, as Ellis once again managed to make a not very complicated but very satisfying gameplay loop with multiple distinct levels and even two paths per level, just to give us more variety! The gameplay itself is relatively simple, with its entirety focusing on the timer mechanic, which needs to be balanced between combat, exploration and puzzle solving. This was thankfully never super overwhelming, as one can recharge the timer multiple times if they know which battles to take and which to run from. It becomes a very fine-tuned balance over time! My only real gripe was the fact that the "better" endings for each level are not immediately accessible, as you are forced to the combat runs first (at least this was always the case for me, though maybe some NPCs didn't spawn correctly?). While this was most likely meant for people to have a chance to get to know the levels before they are thrown into doing a whole puzzle, it feels a little discouraging to be forced into a path before being able to have a choice. As I said, it's a minor nitpick and I otherwise quite enjoyed the game!
- I've always enjoyed the games submitted by Elis Immortelle, fun to see how each game evolves the world. That said this was a fun and challenging game. I had to retry several of the puzzles several times in order to get the true end. As far as scoring goes, pregnancy content is focused on the main character as well as multiple side characters with the focus of the story recruiting people into the pregnancy cult. Birth is present if you fail and then you try again. Gameplay is unique in the sense you only have 60 seconds... well technically 240 seconds to complete the puzzle. Each time you extend the time, your progress to having a larger pregnancy fitting in with the theme. Creativity fits in well with story continuing in the world of the previous jam games as well as the minor details shown such as one npc's quick glance at the clock to check the time or npc's running off with the cake. I'm impressed with how this game turned out, enjoyed the challenge of solving the puzzle too. Great job!
- Yet another creative game from the dev. The concept was great and the gameplay was creative and challenging. The callbacks to their previous games was also a wonderful thing to see.
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Comments
I'm not done playing yet, but I did have some thoughts to share. Currently, I've beat the first two levels' combat paths.
While I haven't played everything in the jam, this is tied for my favorite gameplay! I was pretty leery of the timer premise conceptually, but after playing it, I think it really works! In order to properly execute this concept, there needed to be a kind of quadrilateral balance between "time to find an encounter", "time to clear an encounter", "rewards given per encounter", and "cost of extending the timer". And I think that while the first of those does need tweaking for pacing purposes, you did manage to strike a really good balance between all four of them as is that creates a really good push-and-pull dynamic. Here's hoping that any post-jam patch that tones down the encounter rate manages to also sustain the balance between the other three elements.
That said, I have run into a number of times where the screen locked up. When it happened didn't really seem to be consistent as far as I could tell, (most annoyingly, during the post-combat victory cutscene at the end of level 2) but based on the sound effects, I believe it was still registering inputs/updating the game state - I just couldn't see it. Also, maybe a little bit more of a hint system for the peaceful resolutions would be nice? Other than those few issues, I've really enjoyed this entry.
Thanks for letting me know about the screen freezing. It's difficult to be fix those sorts of bugs that are seemingly random and difficult for me to reproduce. I've investigated and believe it is due to a bug in the RPG Maker MV engine itself but I have a patched version of the game that I'll upload once the game jam results are announced next week. If you're still able and interested, I'd appreciate you trying that version when it's available and letting me know if it fixes the problems you were having so I can avoid the same issue in any future games.
Well, I've sunk two hours into the new version - with no freezing in sight! My other feedback from before largely still stands, although I have now beat the puzzle routes for all six levels. I will say the Mansion level took me significantly longer to clock the solution than the others. I'm honestly still not sure what it was I did this time that triggered Sarah's appearance in the Mansion level, since I never encountered her before - though I did appreciate the new(?) dialogue from the guards to indicate how you're supposed to bribe them, so that helped a lot. I do think that having the lumberjack [in the Forest level] ask you to give him three things when you can only collect two of them - while it results in a funny gag, could easily result in making players feel punished for trying to be efficient (ie, not going to talk to the lumberjack until you have all the items he wants) in a game that encourages efficiency. Particularly since looking for wood to give to the lumberjack could easily run you out of time right at the end of the puzzle. I do like the joke, mind you - it feels kinda Paper-Mario-coded. Personally, I'd change it to have the lumberjack ask you to get him wood after you already gave him the other items, and then have Bryony point out the nearby wood in the same cutscene. That being said, I could see that potentially making the joke not hit as hard, plus humor is absolutely subjective, so do what you want - it's your art, not mine. :)
The premise is lighthearted, and luckily, it doesn't take itself seriously. You play a character who's part of a cult, and your objective is to help the goddess of pregnancy become BIG (and avoid losing your position). Honestly, the simplicity of the plot is charming. Your objective is simple enough to grasp. Everything is explained to you without being vague.
It's fun and challenging with plenty of replayability, and I'm glad this isn't a simple walking simulator that some RPG maker games tend to gravitate towards.
Pregnancy Content: 4/5 (There isn't a second of pregnancy drought. Between the MC, NPCs, and even some encounters, pregnancy is plenty. The only drawback is that this is an RPG Maker game with limited sprites. Even then, the game does a good enough job visually to get the point across. Each important character portrait is memorable. If this game had custom art, the pregnancy content would be perfect.)
Gameplay: 3/5 (Despite being an RPG maker, it's not as straightforward as you'd think. Strategy is required before each encounter to optimize time, and pregnency plays a role in the mechanics of gameplay. While each combat encounter dumbs down to two options of fight or flight, those two choices carry plenty of weight for optimization. There are a LOT of random encounters, though, which borders on bloating.)
Creativity: 4/5 (With time being the key component, you can't think inside the box. If you go in just mashing through each fight, you will not win. Your safety net also has limitations. Abuse it, and it's game over. You have to choose your fights, choose your approach, and optimize your time, which is rather satisfying when you beat a level.)
Jam Theme: 4/5: (At its core, the game follows the theme 1 to 1. The MC gets bigger as you play into the mechanics through each level, and the goddess you're serving gets bigger after every successful level.)
Overall: 3.75/5
Cute game. I like it a lot. I do think battles are a little too frequent. But I did enjoy it. :)
Unfortunately I was unable to really play due to the screen locking. it happened 3 times during initial dialog so I had to restart and then it did it again twice in the first stage. Despite that, the premise was fun. Its like a pregnancy themed half minute hero.
Thanks for letting me know about the screen freezing. It's difficult to be fix those sorts of bugs that are seemingly random and difficult for me to reproduce. I've investigated and believe it is due to a bug in the RPG Maker MV engine itself but I have a patched version of the game that I'll upload once the game jam results are announced next week. If you're still able and interested, I'd appreciate you trying that version when it's available and letting me know if it fixes the problems you were having so I can avoid the same issue in any future games.
I would actually love to give it another shot. I was actually just looking through all the Jam games to see which ones got bug fixes this very moment.