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Chrono Swapper's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay/Design | #1 | 4.538 | 4.538 |
| Fun | #13 | 3.615 | 3.615 |
| Overall | #13 | 3.712 | 3.712 |
| Graphics | #21 | 3.385 | 3.385 |
| Audio | #25 | 3.308 | 3.308 |
Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What would you like feedback on?
Mostly puzzle design, though I'm open to all kinds of feedback
What did you update?
Compared to jam version during GMTK game jam voting:
- Added music
- Added a proper settings menu
- Added level select menu
- Added a new object type to make some puzzles easier to understand,
- Added a new mechanic (Disruption field, still a bit WIP)
- Added speech sound effects
- Improved object physics,
- Reworked many assets, including objects and player
- Implemented a grace period to make some puzzles easier to execute
- Reworked swap gun animation and placement
- Improved some levels, but I'm still working on improving existing puzzles and making new ones
- Now levels are enclosed spaces instead of walls on an infinite place
- Slow doors now show a timer
- Player can now slide on walls
And moooore!
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Comments
This is a really nice concept. The sound effects are nice, the music is decent. I played until level 10 so I don't think I got into the meat of your game. It took me until level 10 to understand the difference between the 2 forcefields but since you didn't need to explain them this is perfect. The one thing I struggled with was figuring out the "additional feature" in level 8? It took me a while, since you're interrupting the game to say something anyways, I think you might as well explain more on 'what' you actually updated.
Overall after these 10 levels I was starting to get bored a little. I didn't see a reason why I had to keep going, the game could use a little story or drive to keep you moving. If that happens later, then I'm sorry for being mean ;)
I really love the mechanics of this game and think it has great (steam?) potential if you can spend some more time polishing it and adding a reason to play. The game's mood and how all the assets come together can also be improved a little I think, maybe some particle effects? The walls around me felt a little too omnipresent and suffocating. While the sci-fi theme works nicely and quickly provides the link to portal games, I think you could brainstorm a little on what else this could be? You could be a young witch in the woods trying to succeed your midterm exam, racing against the clock. The woods could provide an easy barrier with brambles or trees and maybe some witchy spectators? Or a magic beetle in an underground tunnel system trying to find food or just a man trying to reach the house of his crazy inlaws with all their home security to ask their gay son for his hand in marriage with suburban vibes.
The possibilities with this game are endless and I think it could be a very fun new puzzle game
I REALLY love the game idea of this. It has massive potential. Originally i didn't get the main idea but after realizing they swap places every time we shoot through them, it was like magic. Awesome!
It is pointed out in other comments that level 19 is hard and i agree too, i got stuck on it :P
I feel like i pushed more than grabbed it. Like it doesn't seem like the hassle to go to the 'E' key when you can just push it to the button but its a nice option.
Amazing game design, great job!
This game is so good! I beat it (and thought I left a comment yesterday but don't see it so I'll leave another one) and enjoyed it quite a lot! I thought level 19 was very hard I almost got stuck, but I persevered because it was so enjoyable. Awesome stuff.
The intro levels were almost like, too easy? Like I don't actually think I quite got what was going on until level 4ish but that didn't stop me from figuring it out when I needed to and having a really great time!
Music is a good addition and I didn't experience too much jank. Occasionally the camera struggles to follow when I go around a corner and I'm in the bottom left of the screen like the wall totally blocks everything for a bit but then if I move it sorts itself out so not a big deal.
It's a bit slow waiting for the slow doors but I can see why you added that for puzzles sake so I don't mind it at all. Good choice adding that new object type, that definitely helped me keep things sorted.
Great work this is a really fantastic game!
Thanks for playing. Yeah level 19 is currently the hardest level after I redesigned it. Great job solving it.
Regarding intro levels, they are intentionally easy. I don't want the player to feel stuck before they even understood what's going on.
And the camera getting stuck sometimes is a known issue. Not sure how I'll solve it, but I intent to.
totally that makes sense regarding giving players quick wins early on! And I figured it out when I needed to so it’s a non-issue
And the camera getting stuck was really not that bad. But perhaps you could try one of those shaders that removes walls or parts of walls when you’re close to them? Or try moving clipping distance out from the camera so it cuts off automatically?
Great stuff thanks for sharing such a wonderful game!
This is a really well designed puzzle game. The time and swap mechanic is genuinely mind bending in the later levels: I feel like a lot of puzzle games say this, but it's true in this game. Every one of the puzzles you designed felt very fair to mechanically complete, so I think the grace period is working as intended.
5 seconds is really the perfect time for the swap too. You have to plan things out, and even when you do, the execution feels intense and high stakes (especially in level 19). I think it would be cool to play around with varied time (maybe it stops in an area or distorts idk), but I think the game shines when it still feels challenging but fair to execute.
I struggled (positive) with level 19 the most and it was very satisfying to beat it, I think maybe that could be swapped with 20, but maybe that one was easier because I got more used to the 3 swap mechanic by the time I finished 19. I think one more level earlier on could help highlight how the 3 swap works, because I also just trial and error'ed my way through it until I got stuck on level 19. I'm not sure the best way to implement this in UI, but I think it would also help to see some direction arrows or color-coding showing what the queued swap is going to switch with. I think then people could more easily wrap their heads around how the 3 swap works.
Thanks for playing. Varied time is an interesting idea, will try to explore in the future.
Regarding difficulty curve and puzzle 19 and 20 difficulty. 19 was simpler previously, however then I noticed an issue in it, reworked it, and it seems I've overcomplicated it now. Currently the most difficult puzzle in the whole game I think. Great job solving it.
I'm definitely going to add even more levels to smooth out the difficulty.
Color coding or arrow sounds like a great idea, will check that out
Not sure if I completed puzzle 10 correctly, I double-swapped the objects and dragged the cylinder over to the button before the first timer ran out. The timer on those double swaps is REALLY strict so IDK if that was the intended solution for that puzzle. If it is, the door button could maybe be moved closer to the blue barrier (or pushing/dragging mechanics could be improved so one screw-up doesn't ruin your attempt), if it's not the solution then the button should be moved further from the barrier.
The camera fought with me a bit on puzzle 14, I couldn't see what I was doing after going through the security door and had to blindly push a swappable object out of that room.
I don't think I ever got a handle on three-way swaps besides trial and error, like I knew eventually the objects would be in new permanent positions but I could never remember which objects I needed to shoot first to get things the way I wanted.
Overall, a very good puzzle game! I was a bit confused about the point of the pink barriers when they were first introduced, but I loved the solution to the final puzzle!
Thank you for playing. That was exactly the solution. I guess more tweaking is needed.
I know about camera issues, still trying to wrestle that. Regarding pink barrier, I actually haven't done introduction levels for it yet, just added it so levels cannot be cheesed. That'll come in the next update.
Wow very great work!
A top down portal-like game in a jam, you're in fire!
It's very well produced and very enjoyable, well done!
Dammmn, This IS cool!!
The puzzles are super cool, I love how you never really explain anything but everything is easy enough to understand how itll work
The only place i was TOO confused was when we got the powerup, i dont remmeber the room level but when u can start to stack the teleports..
I was confused to see a new green circle and all but i realized what the upgrade was pretty soon haha
The only real issue i faced was that the teleport stacking mechanic was easy enough to grasp, but as the no. of items increase and you also gotta keep in mind how you aswell move along to make sure the item is teleported in the right spot, especially in room 19.. It got wayyy too confusing for me where i kinda knew what i was doing, but Id just try and hope it worked :P
Like i got the emchanic but dry running its process in my mind was too much for me so i kept changing the process everytime trying to get through xD
I dont know if other people got this same issue but i feel like this was just a problem cuz of how i am lol
The funny thing is i did maange to beat the game even with this lool
But i genuinely feel the levels are paced quite well!
Like the mechanics start simple, you grasp as to what is going on and then they start to actually get tricky!
And i absolutely LOVE how you managed to do this without any text walls and just let the player explore and learn how th emechanics work themseleves
Like at the start i was pretty confused as to what was going on but the first few levels kept it simple and when they started to actually put in puzzles, i too started to get a grasp of how everything worked and how im supposed to play
The only things i kinda hated (mostly at the start - mid) was the way dragging was implemented
- Im not a fan of needing to look at the item to even start dragging it..
Id prefer if I could just pick it if i was close to it instead of also needing to look at it and also a small sound cue to communicate when i DO pick/drop it would also be good imo
- Also, do we really NEED the pushing ability? like if i need to move smthing I think just being able to drag it around is enough, right?
Most of the time i just ended up pushing the stuff while trying to walk around it
- Also a small nitpick, there were several instances where my camera would get stuck in a long vertical hallway and the player chaaracter would be offscreen
It was easy enough to fix just by moving around a bit but still it oculd be improved
Overall i feel the game is really polished and the level desgin and pacing is pretty close to perfection!
Thanks for playing. I'm glad you had so much fun.
Regarding issues you mentioned:
ooh im surprised that pushing is the primary method lol
i thought that pushing was some sort of later addition maybe to fix something.. but imo dragging felt way better as i didnt need to worry about which direction i push from and can just pick and move where i need to be. this is especially useful due to the countdown.
Well that's just the order in which these features were added to the game. However I do agree with you that currently dragging does feel better, especially if current puzzle has a tight timing. TBH I do try to avoid that, and ensure player has plenty of time to execute their move, but alas not everywhere
Managed to make it to the end! For the most part I thought the puzzles here were well-designed and challenging to figure out, although to nitpick, the first few involving the security doors felt a bit too simple and came down to a repetitive pattern of "do double swaps to rotate positions until it works".
Thanks for playing. This is an interesting perspective, because according to other player's feedback here and elsewhere those exact levels are a difficulty spike. As such I doubt I should make them any harder, as they are meant to introduce a new mechanic and ensure the player gets it.
However I do already have a feature planned to improve this: timer fast forward button
I almost feel like level 12 should come after 11. I kept thinking it was focused around moving the barrel that’s outside, but in 12 I cannot really move anything, which forces me to think about how the multiple beams interact with each other. If level 10 was related, I honestly couldn’t really tell. Having made difficulty curves for my own puzzle games, I know it’s not easy to teach mechanics so I’m not quite sure what to do with that. There were also a few early levels that I wasn’t sure if I had to “do it fast enough” or if it was purely puzzle based. I actually think the timed “security gates” really make this clear in the latter half of the game, so I actually like those “slow” doors as a pacing mechanism. Grabbing seemed finicky, particularly when I would move towards something because I want to grab it. I later realized most levels don’t really need you to do this and it was just a convenience feature (or at least it seems that way). Overall I think this looks great, and the video on the page lets me compare more easily to the jam version. I also like how the barrels reminds me of those from Star Fox Adventures.
Thanks for playing. Interesting suggestion to make 12 before 11, but I do think 12 is more advanced. So I think maybe a better way is to lock up all objects in 11, though I'm afraid that will trivialize the puzzle.
Regarding 10, it's not related to 11 and further. Interesting insight about slow doors, especially given these doors were a clutch solution to make the player forced to make a permanent change.
Also grabbing is indeed a secondary mechanic, that was introduced to ensure you can't get soft-locked by pushing a box to a corner, that players liked so much, I improved and polished it so much it almost became the main way to move things
This was a lot of fun! The puzzles are well thought out and novel, with something new to learn or discover in almost every level.
I got as far as level 18, where unfortunately I got stuck, as I somehow managed to teleport myself into the cage on the left and get everything else outside of it, so I could not get out anymore, haha. Otherwise, the wall blocked the sight in one level, but I managed to get around that.
Cheers!
Thanks for playing. Regarding getting stuck, in pause menu you can reset the level
Honestly, I had a lot of fun playing! I was wondering how the game would keep adding twists and introducing new puzzles, and I was pleasantly surprised by how creative and ingenious some of them were.
I took a few (maybe more than a few) notes while playing:
Unfortunately, I had to call it quits at level 20 since I couldn’t figure out the puzzle.
Anyways, great work on the game, and good luck with the rest of the development!
Thanks for such detailed feedback! Regarding your suggestions:
although some of these puzzles have multiple solutions.EDIT: nah, you're right, that's a cheese right there...I'm going to post my notes until the point I reached and update them later.
The pacing is well made - level 5 is where the core mechanic is used for the first time which is enough time for the player to understand how the mechanics work.
However level 8 includes a double swap which was unexpected - I read another person commented that they got stuck. It's a good idea to include some hint.
To be continued...
Thanks for playing and your feedback. Regarding a hint for level 8, the idea was that level 7 would be that hint, that you can shoot multiple simultaneous timers. Maybe you have an idea how I can give such a hint, without directly telling player "shoot twice and move", as that would defeat the point of doing invisible tutorial
I can't remember what level 7 is but certianly it was suprising that I could do that... It may not be elegant and cool but think of it this way - if you add some hint/help menu the player is less likely to get stuck and less likely to abandon the game.
Good luck!
Level 7 was just before Level 8 and featured two pairs of objects you had to apply a swap at the same time to solve the puzzle.
Regarding giving direct hints: I want to avoid this as much as I can, I'm trying to stick to teaching the player indirectly through my puzzles
Applying a swap on two sets is different from applying a swap twice on the same set.
Maybe I misnamed the help by calling it a hint? Let me be clear - the idea is that with puzzle games the risk is higher than other types of games that the player gets stuck and abandons the game.
When a player gets stuck which outcome do you prefer - that the player decides on their own to see the solution and continue OR that they abandon the game?
When the player pays for a game and gets stuck they are likely to search for the solution online - that is outside of your control. And if the player is playing some game for free they are even more likely to just drop it and do something else.
In action games this issue is called difficuly spike - if a section of the game is a lot more difficult than the previous this causes frustration and possibly rage quit. Designers avoid that.
I understand what you mean. And I know there's a difficulty spike there. I'm currently thinking of ways to solve that.
However like I said, I don't want to add a dialogue line or other direct hint that directly leads to this discovery, that will just ruin the aha moment.
My intention is to use puzzle design in such a way to lead the players to discover this on their own.
Portal games do the same thing, very rarely you are directly told what to do, instead the game nudges you into the solution. I want to replicate that
Well i stuck at number 8. Glad you do not explain how it works and make the player study the mechanism by themselves. We hate Ubisoft. Nice musics, i hope my game has as good musics.
Thanks for the feedback. Can you go through your thoughts while solving puzzle #8? This is indeed a bit of a difficulty spike, and I'm still trying to figure out how to smooth that bump out.
I read other comment and #8 has a 'shoot twice' which i don't get. I think that is because i did not shoot twice in #7 but rather a bug let me pass the door? I don't really remember the detail of it.
The game is fun and looks good. Music is also a good fit.
Here are some things I that felt out of place:
Thanks for playing and your feedback. I'm aware of the first issue, still thinking how to solve it.
Regarding dragging not giving feedback, will see how I can improve that.
Great improvements!
the addition of music, and the player design all fit very well. the improved physics and make the gameplay smooth and engaging, and the levels are unique and quite challenging. some more sound effects could is all i see missing here especially for the dialogue, without any sound it felt a bit out of place. overall pretty good entry 4.5/5.
Thanks for the feedback. Didn't think of dialogue sound effects... Will add in the next version