Play game
Systems Dark - Count Down's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #1391 | 3.930 | 4.273 |
| Narrative | #2778 | 2.843 | 3.091 |
| Artwork | #4443 | 3.094 | 3.364 |
| Audio | #5030 | 2.676 | 2.909 |
| Enjoyment | #5826 | 2.676 | 2.909 |
Ranked from 11 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
3 ways. Countdown until the next jump. Countdown for each system minigame. Countdown the Jumps you have to survive to make it home!
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
It's a fun idea, but WAY too complicated to play with any competence. It's just too much info and too many mechanics all at once. Trying to remember the location of each machine, the location of each tool, which tool maps to which machine, which gameplay mechanic each machine enables or disables, and how to complete each minigame quickly, is just far too much information for the player to keep track of while also making decisions about which machines need to be fixed and how to get there on a strict time limit. The table in the description only helps a tiny bit.
Thanks for the feedback. I agree that it was a bit of information overload. I had it originally just as hold E at each station but that felt quite boring in play. It was only my 3rd game jam but I have been working on other games with minigame mechanics etc. recently so I was relatively certain I could get it done. I think my last game jam entry I suffered from making it too simple and therefore it was quite boring and it seems I over corrected a bit. Still thanks for playing and responding!
Its definitely a tough ask to have 6 rooms that need 6 different tools, which are grouped in pairs in different places, and then the rooms aren't marked on a map.
I'm sure this would've been a lot easier if there were icons on the map to show where the wrench was and which room used it. Or just have all 6 tools in the same room to remove that friction.
I also agree that the minigames are tough. You've already got the pressure of navigating a spaceship and needing the right tool so baby-mode amongus ones would've been better, or even just holding E for 4s.
It's an ambitious game though, so great job on getting all this done and finished in time!
Thanks for the feedback. I definitely had all of these great ideas for making the UI better, tutorial maps and leading the player into more tools/rooms etc. I had to get the game done early as I wasn't able to work the last 10 hours or so on it. As is typical in Game Jams.... better time and scope management would have helped a heap! haha Regardless, thanks for playing!
I started the jam trying to make something like this, but soon realized it was way more than I could do. You even handed it in early, congrats. It seems quite interesting.
I agree with Iain (Eirreann) below the tools are frustrating at the start, especially for the time that is there. Maybe having each tool being universal but only usable once would be better or if you could pick up and hold multiple tools at the same time?
I actually added the 'difficulty' because I also found the tools to be quite painful while I was running tests. At the time it seemed like I really needed the tools but then of course once you go down a path a bit too far it's hard to see. Thanks for playing and providing feedback!
It's kinda crazy, but my team almost made a game very similar to this, but ultimately didn't because we didn't think we could pull it off in the time we had. Well done on realising the concept! It looks and plays quite well.
The main critique I have is that the tools felt more frustrating than anything, having to constantly run back and forth between rooms to first check what tool they need and then find the tool and then deposit the tool afterward to then repeat with another unfamiliar room made the first few runs feel annoying, but once I learned where everything was it became more enjoyable. I think dropping the tools would have tightened the gameplay loop and led to a more satisfying experience.
My dream game has a lot of these concepts so I've been working on minigames and adverse effects from not keeping systems alive in other game concepts I've been working on. To be honest though this was the best I've had it work out, so who knows maybe all that failing elsewhere actually helped out here :D
Thanks for the feedback about the frustration. I suppose I should have focused more on making the minigames engaging and less on making sure that you always felt like you were running out of time because of just running around. Good suggestions for my actual game!