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Down Counter's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #6 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Onboarding/Intuitiveness | #9 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Recent Work/Making Progress | #9 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
| Overall | #9 | 2.917 | 2.917 |
Ranked from 4 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Improvement Summary
Moved level one.
Requested Feedback/Comments for Reviewers
I would like to know if it is too difficult, how many downs you collected (preferably separated by which ones you found on your own, needed hints for, and looked at the solutions for), and if level 1 works properly or not. (Don’t feel obligated to go for the least amount of hints, just try the puzzle for an amount of time that feels good, and if you still haven’t gotten it, check the hints.
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Comments
This is an interesting puzzle once you figure out how to get started. I got up to around 5 before I got stumped. Needed to look at the hints before I started to figure out what I was supposed to do. I guess at this point you need to try and figure out what you are trying to accomplish with this game. Personally I think the challenge and difficulty are a big part of the experience. It was too hard for me but I think that is the point, a puzzle shouldn't be easy. Some clearer text in game hinting at what is supposed to be done could help new players get onboard easier. I liked the challenge and it felt rewarding to figure things out, cool puzzle, could see this being a fun game.
I got seven downs, then got stuck on Australia because hints or not I couldn't get past it. In principle, I like it. I first got a bad impression bacuse of the pixellated look in windowed screen but fullscreen was better. With, I don't know, humane puzzles :D this would be something I would gladly have running during the day.
I’m gonna be moving level 1 to later, for now, just play the other level first
I like that you have 2 music options, plus mute. We like offering players options for what works best for them.
The first puzzle is not very intuitive. I started with it, and got frustrated enough that I stopped. After I got frustrated my partner played and beat it, using the tips. They mentioned the others were easier and more enjoyable, so I came back and beat the other levels, along with getting some of the other downs, before going back to the first one. The others were much better. You should change the order of things so that players start with an easier puzzle, and then progressively get harder. Your first puzzle should be your last one. My partner offered some tips on the first one when I got stuck, and I finished it. In the end I had 12 downs. I like that you have the hints available for those who want to use them. The concept was good, and the other puzzles I liked. I liked the idea of the multi-part puzzle, but it needs some rethinking to make it feel more intuitive.
I have now realized that most people have gotten upset over level 1 (partially my fault when I updated the game and level 1 was broken on the web version and not on desktop) so I moved it to later in the game
My teen and I worked together to solve this. It took a little bit to figure out the basics, but from there it mostly made sense. Between the two of us, we found 10 Downs without needing to look at any hints or solutions.
We needed to look at the solution to solve Level 1. Even with the solution, we're both still having trouble wrapping our heads around it. I figured out certain parts myself, while others did make a bit of sense when we looked at the solutions, but we're still not quite seeing the logic of some of the parts. I don't want to go into too much detail here now, because I don't want to give spoilers for anyone else playing later, but I can try to come back to go over the steps at the end of the jam if that would help or we can message on Discord. We did this one last, since we were able to do Level 2 without completing it and wanted to see how much we could do without looking at hints.
Level 2 was pretty easy. We both solved it on our own.
Level 3 took a bit of thought. We each figured out part on our own, and then talked about it together to solve the rest. It took a bit to figure out, but once we did it made perfect sense. That one was my favorite of the puzzles, while my teen said it was interesting.
The final down was clever. We looked at the hints for it, though figured it out without needing to see the solution. My teen said that was their favorite puzzle.
I liked the different music options, as well as being able to mute the music while keeping the sound on. The sound clue was quite helpful.
Overall, we think you have some clever puzzles here and enjoyed trying to solve them all. I think it might help if you had the puzzles in a different order, maybe having what is currently Level 1 and Level 3 switch places. While Level 2 was the easiest, the way it is currently written makes more sense where it is. That said, you could take the core idea of Level 2 and make it work for Level 1. Level 1 was the hardest to solve, and having it be first might turn people off from trying to do any of the others. My teen only did Level 2 because I suggested it, because of how much they struggled with Level 1 and they assumed 2 was going to be harder. Starting the Level puzzles with something easier and working up to the harder one can help encourage people try to finish the game, instead of giving up early.