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Mental Trap's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Innovation | #51 | 3.939 | 3.939 |
| Visuals | #65 | 4.424 | 4.424 |
| Audio | #121 | 3.712 | 3.712 |
| Overall | #144 | 3.687 | 3.687 |
| Gameplay | #254 | 3.470 | 3.470 |
| Enjoyment | #374 | 3.455 | 3.455 |
| Theme | #875 | 3.121 | 3.121 |
Ranked from 66 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does the game fit the theme?
Narrative wise (especially the ending) and mechanically wise.
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
Some grid-based navigation code I made myself previously
How many people worked on the game?2
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Comments
Excellent game, it was so fun to play, artstyle is amazing, and love the sounds as well!
Thanks a lot for the great feedback, we're glad you enjoyed the game!
I liked the artstyle a lot. I didn't quite get used to the controls and kept falling but it's a very unique concept. well done.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the game!
The controls definitely take some time to get used to.
How do you get throught the window.o? An awesome game idea tho
Thanks!
Some tasks can't be achieved by a single person... (:
Yo, I know right, but I've tried with the friend I've invited to my party.D(it still did not work, idk what wrong i did).
You're getting close!
Three may succeed where two have failed.
dam it.o
I was initially a bit angry with the orthogonal controls on isometric grid but somewhere I have read someone's interpretation that you cannot trust your own steps - if that was intentional then this is a masterclass in incorporating the theme.
The world is visually consistent and very eerie and the characters are clearly mad which is very immersive. I think that having some more sounds/music to break up the monotony of jumps would be nice.
Overall the game has a very compelling atmosphere and conveys its message clearly - great job:)
Haha, this guy gets it (:
Yeah, the choice of controls was done to try and apply the theme of the jam to more abstract concepts. We tried to make the player not trusting their own intuition, reflexes and their very next step in a way that may be frustrating at times, but hopefully eventually rewarding .
We're already at work on the next version, so more content (sounds included) are coming.
Thanks a lot for the feedback!
I kept messing up the movement and falling off the map but 1 eternity later I finally escaped. Love the artstlye, silly dialogue and overall vibe!
Thanks for spending eternity in our asylum! We're glad to hear that you managed to escape intact (:
he player movement sync with the music was perfect and kinds njoyed and i initially just started pressing arrow around just to experience that thing visually cool
great work :)
Ha, thanks!
More whacky tunes to come in future versions!
Great graphics and amazing music sync with the rhythm movement! The isometric controls threw me off a bit and restarting from scratch was tough, but I had a blast playing it. Awesome entry!
Hi, thanks for the feedback and sharing your experience with the game!
This game makes me mad. I'm not sure if that was the intention, but it does. It reminds me a lot of Getting over it with Bennett Foddy. The simple controls yet frustrating controls and the mental health theme add to that correlation. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing.
What I will say is the arrow keys is what makes this frustrating. Because of the camera perspective, diagonals mess with your muscle memory. I'll be hopping in the South East diagonal and try going North East, hitting the wrong key to do so. I'd work heavily on reworking your InputComponent if you have one. You could just make this game an "A and D" game or "Left and Right" game. Let the player rotate left and right instead of freely picking directions. It should help with the disorientation, as controls no longer are dependent on a fixed perspective, but rather the rotation of the player (which is something every player is used to).
Another issue I had was deciphering what was interactable or not. A few design choices clash here:
This let to me walking into things to see if there was dialogue based on it, like the window and pudding taught me might be the case. However, not everything is interactable. For example, the poster in the first hallway you hop past. I wanted to see if there was some funny dialogue and fell.
I couldn't figure out what the 'Enter', 'Comma' and 'Period' keys were for. Though this might just be a skill issue. Clicking them didn't seem to do anything and walking into the poster to see what the MC said made me fall and die.
Finally I'd just work on the audio. The hopping seems to be an integral part of the game, so I'd try and make the audio less annoying. You seem to be randomizing the pitch (or different sound files) when they play, but the problem is you can get the same sound over and over again. Look into a "grab bag" approach or have a "lastPlayed" variable in the player and make sure the same sound doesn't play multiple times in a row.
This game has a ton of potential and I want you to have the best chance of success possible. Best of luck!
Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback, much appreciated!
If we managed to make some of our players mad during their visit to our little asylum, it's an achievement by itself (:
I understand the frustration regarding the controls, this is a part of the game's challenge and general theme, and probably not everybody's cup of tea, but 'not trusting' our initial gaming reflexes and intuition is what we were aiming for with it. We will add controller support and WASD in the next version, but keep in mind that those will require the same mental adjustments.
As for the other issues:
- The lack of walls is intentional, but the design of the level and additional levels may vary, so having some walls at certain areas is an option.
- I agree with your note about checkpoints, we didn't manage to implement them in the timeframe of the jam, but they will be there in future versions.
- Regarding having certain elements interactable and other not and having to take risks to find out, this is a part of the theme of the game and the jam and general.
- The Comma and period keys are used to switch the order of the party members if you have more than one party member (they don't do anything when there's only one character). The other one is Backspace, not Enter, and it is used to leave party members behind.
- As for the hopping sound, your suggestion is already implemented in the game - as there are several audio clips for hopping and for landing, and the same sound never plays twice in a row. I will double check that anyway.
Then I'd venture to say that the design philosophy of this game might not bode well for its longevity. The struggle from this genre of game doesn't usually come from the controls being counterintuitive but rather overengineered (I am bread) or oversimplified (Getting over it). A lot of people in the comments mentioned the controls being jarring. I'd just take note of that.
As for the level design and "having players take risks to find out" if things are interactable or not, I'd caution you to reminisce on that and verify that's actually what you want. This is a pattern many devs fall into and it ruins games. Someone, like myself, will try interacting with a poster to see what secret dialogue the devs left for us only to die the first few times then genuinely stop trying. For the rest of the game, after they've been trained not to interact with anything, players will ignore anything you leave around. This is something the lead designer of Civilization IV, Soren Johnson, commented on once: “Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game.” If the cost of dying and retracing one's steps to get back to where they were outweighs the possibility for interacting with something, players will take the optimal path and just ignore it.
We took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.
The concept is really well done, I can feel the main characters messy mind. i love how the map disappears dynamically.
The dialogue and art style really fits the concept of you being in a mental asylum.
I did have a lil problem getting used to the arrow keys due to the camera perspective but got over that very quick.
overall, a really Great game.
Would definitely play it when you guys make it into a full release :)
Thanks for the great feedback!
Yeah, bridging to the gap between a "top down" keyboard and isometric perspective takes some time, but it's a part of the challenge of the game, and I'm happy to hear you got it down.
We're already working on the next version, and even though it'll take a while for the full version to come out, considering our plans, we'll definitely keep gradually updating and modifying the game.
Wow I really like this! What a fun game please give us a full version of this!
Thanks, really glad to hear that!
We're already hard at work on the next version (:
Woah. I really like this game. I love the black and white contrasting color scheme, The art style is beautiful. The game is somewhat difficult but it was fun and I enjoyed beating the game. The objective is clear. The dialogue is good. My only small critique is that the audio is a bit repetitive and it doesn't follow the theme super well. Those are tiny knit picks. Overall one of my favorite games I've played from the actually! Good job!
Thank you so much for the kind words; we're glad you enjoyed the challenge! We actually had other mechanics and expansions to the core game that tied it more closely to the theme. But in the end, we decided to focus on finishing with a solid starting point that we could expand on later, which is better than gameplay that's unstable or too complex for a jam. We plan to add more stages and features in the future. Some changes will be added shortly after the voting phase ends, so feel free to check back and check our progress! Thanks once again for playing and leaving a feedback!
This is very cool! I absolutely love the art style and the sfx/music was really good too! My only critique is that the controls really tripped me up and I kept pressing the wrong ones and falling off. I'm not really sure how that could be fixed though. Good job on your entry!
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah, the mental adjustments required for remapping top down controls to isometric environment is quite challenging and confusing, but it is a part of our take on the 'trust no one theme'. Our immediate reflexes and intuitions are not to be trusted (:
Great Game
Thank ya!
Fun idea ! I Like how it looks !
Hi, Thank you!
Thanks for playing! :)
I've tried 3 times that my party member picks up the pudding, which it does, but then fails to give the pudding to the other one. So I can't progress further. Moreover, the controls felt weird as soon as I got the team member in front of me.
The jumping audio was fitting, but I missed more audio. The visuals fit quite well, but the theme was not present (at least at that early stage, so I don' know if it is later on). The gameplay just jumping along the grid is not really fun, at least not for me.
In conclusion, I have mixed feeling about your game guys. The art and idea behind it feels good, but the gameplay not that much.
Hi, thanks for the honest feedback!
The idea with the pudding is that the main character can recruit other characters but can't interact with items, while Dumbo (the 2nd character) can pick up items but won't interact with other characters, therefore - giving the pudding should be done by interacting through the main character. I agree that it isn't very clear at the moment, requires some experiencing and will be emphasized more in the next update of the game, once the voting period is over.
As for the core mechanic, to each his own I guess (:
The drawings and audio are so so good! This game has such a great personality. I also found the unstoppable cell movement really interesting.
The dot / comma / arrow signs were a bit confusing to me at first.
Completing the puzzles is really satisfying. Argh, I would have loved to have more content!
Great job!
Thanks for the kind feedback, appgreciated!
We're already at work on expanding the game, so more content coming soon (:
Very Innovative game, I wish I had more time to explore. Good use of a simple art style. It gave the game lots of character.
Hi, thanks for the feedback!
First of all, five stars on audio and graphics. The bass guitar as sound effect is really cool and fitting with the hopping animation. I've always wanted to use musical instruments as dynamic sounds on my games too. The visual style is also on point and fits the premise and story really well. For some reason it reminds me of the movie Pi (1998). The tiny details on the background really add to the tone as well.
My only suggestion is that I died a lot early on, especially since the controls take some time getting used to. I would have made the player die less, with fewer obstacles or floors you can fall off of. Secondly, although I eventually figured out what to do, some clues in the dialog would have helped. E.g. Dumbo hinting that he/she has hands and can interact with objects.
Other than that, this was a really beautiful and poignant game and I'd love to see more of it. Keep it up!
Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback!
The reference for Aronofsky's Pi is an interesting one, as it works both in regards to the palette as well as the general paranoia (:
And yeah, we're working on a couple of tweaks and additions such as checkpoints, extra dialogs and others, so stay tuned.
P.S - cool profile pic!
I do adore the artstyle and despite being short, it is quite a sweet game. I don't necessarily know if it fully fits the theme of the jam, as I think maybe that could have been explored more, but there was no other game where I played which clearly utilised ink coloured looking art (which naturally I will glaze since I did that myself) and a charming little maze game. Overall, great effort, definitely loved my time with it.
Thank you! We had a variety of plans and mechanics that related to the theme more (besides the ending), and we plan to explore them further as we continue developing the game after the jam. And yes, this is not only looking like ink art, it is also indeed done by hand using fountain pens :) I appreciate the feedback and thank you for giving our game a try! Looking forward to trying yours!
Great game, love the art. Sound is great too, nice bass/guitar hopping. It was a bit confusing since it was isometric and the keyboard directions are orthogonal, but minor complaint. Great work!
Thanks for playing and leaving feedback! Confusion is indeed a part of the experience in this weird asylum.. :^)