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Bound to be Free's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #145 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Story | #168 | 2.824 | 2.824 |
| Aesthetics | #192 | 3.588 | 3.588 |
| Overall | #284 | 3.176 | 3.176 |
| Mechanics | #285 | 3.059 | 3.059 |
| Fun | #430 | 2.588 | 2.588 |
| Music | #556 | 1.706 | 1.706 |
| Sound | #601 | 1.706 | 1.706 |
Ranked from 17 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.
All the assets in the game other than the two character are from my fab library
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Comments
I got through to the end, I think? Once I got to the doors in the room with the ramp it went back to the title screen.
It's a good idea which uses the theme well. Picking up and moving the crates was very glitchy for me. Sometimes they would move very far away, but still act as if they were being held. I also found I could cheat by getting to the next checkpoint with the smaller bot and then loading from there.
I also managed to get stuck at the beginning of the game, by going into the charging station before beginning the story sequence.
Yes, the game is still pretty buggy, the crates in particular. I didn't have time to work on a fix in the past days. I'll try to do something tomorrow. You probably didn't get stuck, when the intro starts the movement input are locked, you can skip the intro with space bar. That wasn't supposed to be the final state of the intro but I didn't have time to make change it. Check points are not optimal right now but they serve the purpose to make the game less annoying for those who fail the puzzle multiple times. Furthermore, I reduced the battery drain to make the game easier and now you could totally skip the first charging station if you don't make too many mistakes in the first puzzle. I should Ideally make checkpoints activable only if both bots reach them, At the end there's a text message telling that you successfully escaped. I didn't have time for a proper outro. Thank you for playing and for your feedback! :)
Nice game, but I often got stucked without understanding why. Like sometimes I can't turn neither move at all, I think it has to do with the maintenance bot, when I'm between him and a crate for instance. I like the overall mood. Good job.
It may be a bug, unless the battery was drained! If you want to see the solution there's a video on the web page. Thank you for playing :)
Cute game, but I couldn't figure out the power mechanics without the video 🫣 Interesting mechanics to grow on with some tutorial in a full game.
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! The game definitely needs a lot of polishing and a better intro.
Good game, wish it had sounds and music. I think it needs more polish at some places. Overall concept is good.
It absolutely does! Thanks for playing 😁
Really cool game, watched it on stream and the playthrough on YouTube. Great level design for the little robot!
Thank you for taking the time to comment :)
Tried the game out but it being quite unpolished made it a bit of a rough experience 😅
The lighting of the game looks good but not sure why it flickers and jump to a different lighting when you do something like switching bots.
Not sure if I'm giving unsolicited advice here but this kind of project would be much more suited to a jam with a longer time frame, not one with 10 days for a solo dev. Hope you keep working on it!
Thank you, all the advices and feedback I can get are very much appreciated. This is my first jam so I didn't know any better. I think I'll go with a web game next time. If you feel like being more specific about what made it a rough experience for you it would be of much help :)
You can watch the solution cover video o the page if you wish to better appreciate the idea behind the game.
It mostly comes down to the fact that you seemed to try to make all kinds of mechanics and throw it at the player in the very first few minutes, making it very confusing and overwhelming. Least of all is the wall of text for control tutorials. I know I'm guilty of making a text tutorial in my own game too, but since your game is much more complex and have many more buttons to push, it felt worse.
I was like "what does charging do", "why do I want to connect to the little bot", "what does the little bot do, it doesn't move when I switch to it", "why does the game tell me that I can't go to the left side" etc. I know you also have a introduction video on the page, but I think you will quickly figure out that most players are not going to watch it unless it already looks like a polished game and they want to play it. And even if they watch it, having nothing explained at all in the game itself will still be a bad experience.
I hope I don't sound too harsh, but I want to give my honest feedback. For next time, my advice is to pick just one mechanics and work at it and polish it as best as you can, then make a good player onboarding experience, instead of way overscoping like this. But you don't have to be discouraged, my first game jam was not good either haha. Keep doing it and you're bound to get better.
I guess I should have done multiple rooms with one mechanics each first, and only then add the proper levels.
Thank you for taking the time to explain 🙂
Actually, soince you were so direct, I would like to ask the last two things, if I may.
Is it worth it to spend more time on this and try to turn it into a full game(maybe even starting over)?
And, what do you think about the bots themselves? They are obviously only blackouts but I ended up liking the contrast with the detailed environment.
> Is it worth it to spend more time on this and try to turn it into a full game(maybe even starting over)?
I would say it's something only you can answer. A lot of new devs get pretty attached to their very first ideas (I know I did), but I found that as I keep making games I just get more ideas every day, and all of them are just as good as my first one. So just keep making games is what I would suggest, no matter this idea or the next one.
> And, what do you think about the bots themselves? They are obviously only blackouts but I ended up liking the contrast with the detailed environment.
I did enjoy the bot visuals, but it probably wouldn't fit in a more "complete" game without at least some interesting details on them.
Cool, thank you again!
Game was fun, looks real good, ran well for a an Unreal game.
Thanks for the play
Thank you for taking the time to play on stream and comment 😁
Love the look to it, looks fun.
Great submission, does the theme well.
It looks like a pretty promising game that I could see people liking (if you continue on it).
Maybe adding different mechanics, puzzles, like later being able to throw the small one and having longer cable, and such.
Feel like it could be a full game maybe?
Good job.
Thank you! Yeah I think it is pretty scalable by adding a few mechanics and maybe more bot types, I just have to decide if it is worth it.
Being it your first game is pretty good, fits the theme, and the atmosphere is cool and fitting. Encountered a few minor bugs, but I see them listed on your page in the list. Overall, a good experience.
Thanks for playing and reviewing! Yeah there are a couple of bugs left and it would need some polishing and a faster battery drain that is currently very low by choice even if I am kinda regretting it.
Really liked the emotional atmosphere and the core idea of the game. The whole “bound together” concept feels very fitting for the jam theme, and the gameplay creates some genuinely interesting moments.
The project leaves a strong impression despite its simplicity.
Thank you for plying ! Glad you liked it :)
I really like the aesthetcs, level backdrop reminds a bit of the Nier prologue, and the concept looks intriguing
Thank you :)
I struggled but I made it through!
Suprised theres no ending XD but honestly, even though its missing features, we can understand why, the gameplay was ambitious, and it kinda work, like I said, I made it through. I was so lucky at the end, I runned out of fuel, but pressing random keys out of panic, I hitted the gas refuel behind and it saved me XD
Good work.
Thank you :D
Didn't have time for an ending, behind that door there's another unfinished puzzle room :D
I got stuck at the first obstacle i kept pressing anything and nothing's working. You should show the controls when it's needed and not dump it all in the menu. Player's won't remember walls of text.
Thank you for your feedback. I need to put more tips in the game.
Added a tip always on screen "TAB for controls"