itch.io

The first minute was confusing and I couldn't see a clear game loop. 

• The Gnome (I don't recall he said his name) told me to run the benchmark but I had to actually place a core first.
• I didn't know why the benchmark failed?
• What is even a benchmark? I am a programmer (not a chip maker) and I still can't tell what is it or why should I care. It is meaningless at this stage for me.
• The components look boring, color and "HS" is not enough. I think you could do better to make them more engaging and representative of their job.
• How does CPU, RAM, Telemetry fit together? Why should I care? They are just numbers at the bottom of screen. Obviously they need to be more visible and maybe given icons and animated particles. This is the core of the game. Even if the UI says to use a statusbar, there are other UI options that are more prominent (e.g. top bar in the win xp explorer)
• 1- Gnome told me to run benchmark 2- benchmark failed for no reason 3- Gnome: "it was a mistake hiring you after all" 4- should I leave now? I think this sums up the root problem with this demo. The loop and connections might be clear in your head, but I can't understand or care about them (even though I am familiar with these terms, I can't understand how the game connects them).
• Clicked Gnome icon (after he left) to get help with above, he said "Connectors carry heat better than ALUs or cache". What are connectors? ALU? cache? why should I care about heat? what is the actual goal of all this? I got a random tooltip instead of the help I need at the moment.
• What is TDB?
• So much wasted potential with the Gnome.
  • He could wear cloths that fit the game better, 
  • he can move around and point at the exact point I need to interact with, 
  • his hat can get heat vfx to teach me about heating...etc. 
  • He could also have a "we are in this together we are both learning" instead of sounding bossy or having assumptions.
  • MS Office Clippit was doing random moves from time to time (flips, scratches head, looks at something, ..etc)
  • The game is literally flat UI but it doesn't have to be flat experience, Gnome can be much more engaging to fill this gap. 
• The grid is ambiguous. It is divided into small squares but you can't place on them, it snaps to 2x2 slots (instead of 1x1 shown). At least make 1x1 squares faded and the 2x2 bold.

A better FTU flow could be for example:

1. Gnome: hello I am [name] and we are here to test silicon chips.
2. We get paid when our chips pass benchmarks (highlights benchmarks)
3. There are lots of details that go into this, but let's focus on Components for now (jumps next to components)
4. Cores are, well, the "core" of the chip. Place one on the grid.
5. Let's run the benchmark (teleports and points arm toward the button)
6. (Benchmark fails.) (log shows actual reason)
7. Dang! it failed. You can see the reason (here). It says the Temp was off the charts, literally, you can see it on this graph (points to it, glowing red from heat)
8. Seems we need a heatsink to suck up all this heat so we can get paid.
9. (Adds HS, preferably shaped like an actual HS not a primitive cube)
10. Let's run again.
11. (Benchmark success)
12. Ah much better! Temp is within metrics (points at metrics).
13. We got valuable test data from all this, it is called Telemetry. Let's spend it on Research (points to tab) and improve our next iteration.

Easy W's 👍

P.S I love what you guys are doing and want your game to succeed <3

I played the web version. All text looks like gibberish (Firefox, Win11)

Yes, itch.io button results in a game with the same size, just with black padding around it

Nice idea,
The wait for benchmarks feels too long, specially without something to do like clicking.

Gnorman is not doing a good job explaining the main loops. Didn't understand what "Release New Socket" meant.

The font is small and the scanlines makes it less clear, specially that fullscreen button is not actually working (the game has fixed size)

Thank you :)

1. Shmup
2. Roguelike
3. Card Game
4. Factory/Tower Def
5. Agar.io

More in the game's description ;)

Thank you. True, and it is a priority for the final version.

Thank you :)

Thank you. Working on it :thumbsup:

True. I increased the mana rate at layer 1 multiple times to reduce the grind.

(Since each layer depends on the lower, grinding at the lower layers can get quickly out of control, and it is not even the point of the game! So it will improved even further after the jam).

Thank you :)

Thank you!

Clever game. Well done!

Thank you very much!

Correct, I have noticed the icons need some clarity.

There is an audio bug in level 12, if the player lands between 2 walls, the sound keeps repeating. But it does Not affect gameplay. I will fix it (+ clarify the icons) after the rating is over إن شاء الله.

Thank you, and good luck to you too :)

شكراً جداً يا معاذ, وبالتوفيق لك وللعبتك :)

إلى حد ما :D
لفل 14 أكتر لفل خدت مني وقت وتركيز

حاجة و50 تقريباً
أنا حصدت حوالي 5 نباتات سليمة والباقي مات :'(

شكراً جزيلاً :)
نفس اللي جه ف بالي لما جربت لعبتك ولقيتها
Construct
برضه :D

Thank you! At the start it explains that the player is controlling a "cure" to dis"infect" red cells.

It is another take on the "infection" process, from a healthier perspective :) (curing people instead of making them sick!).
Note: the theme is generic, and didn't imply a specific mechanic :)

فكرة جميلة.
هل في طريقة عشان أتخلص من النباتات الميتة؟

ما شاء الله فكرة ذكية! وقابلة إنكم تضيفوا لها آليات أكثر في المستقبل إن شاء الله
you can say I am a "fan" of this game :D

ما شاء الله فكرة جميلة والصعوبة متدرجة بشكل كويس
منتظرين شوية لفلات أصعب بقا ;)

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!

Nice game!

The idea had potential, I wish shooting was easier.

A Top-10 Candidate!! Well done 5/5

Love the indirect control. Great job!

Nice game
Intro music is a bit annoying, but level music is very good.
I felt there were many notes. Labeling the controls instead would have been more simple.

Nice game. I didn't know what lies ahead, so I had to trial-and-error my way through. Is there a way to look around before planning?

Thanks for playing the game in this state :) I've added better instructions

Bob is trying to finish a painting on his favorite Grid, but the Skull gang is trying to ruin it. Click around Bob to place Colors. Click again to set the destination the Color will move to. Avoid letting the Skulls reach Bob! Colors are like your Bullets (but "Colors" sound more nicer!), they can Kill the Skulls. Try to Place and Aim your Colors well to intercept the Skull's path. Avoid Killing the Little Critters if you can.

True. I added the download feature 1minute before the Jam ends! And I will make the game more organized as soon as the Jam ends (we can't edit the games before that ..)

Thanks! Took me 80% of the Jam Time :D

Thanks for playing the game in this state :) I've added better instructions

Bob is trying to finish a painting on his favorite Grid, but the Skull gang is trying to ruin it. Click around Bob to place Colors. Click again to set the destination the Color will move to. Avoid letting the Skulls reach Bob! Colors are like your Bullets (but "Colors" sound more nicer!), they can Kill the Skulls. Try to Place and Aim your Colors well to intercept the Skull's path. Avoid Killing the Little Critters if you can.

Thanks for playing the game in this state :) I've added better instructions

Bob is trying to finish a painting on his favorite Grid, but the Skull gang is trying to ruin it. Click around Bob to place Colors. Click again to set the destination the Color will move to. Avoid letting the Skulls reach Bob! Colors are like your Bullets (but "Colors" sound more nicer!), they can Kill the Skulls. Try to Place and Aim your Colors well to intercept the Skull's path. Avoid Killing the Little Critters if you can.

Thanks for playing the game in this state :) I've added better instructions

Bob is trying to finish a painting on his favorite Grid, but the Skull gang is trying to ruin it. Click around Bob to place Colors. Click again to set the destination the Color will move to. Avoid letting the Skulls reach Bob! Colors are like your Bullets (but "Colors" sound more nicer!), they can Kill the Skulls. Try to Place and Aim your Colors well to intercept the Skull's path. Avoid Killing the Little Critters if you can.

Thanks for playing the game in this state :) I've added better instructions

Bob is trying to finish a painting on his favorite Grid, but the Skull gang is trying to ruin it. Click around Bob to place Colors. Click again to set the destination the Color will move to. Avoid letting the Skulls reach Bob!
Colors are like your Bullets (but "Colors" sound more nicer!), they can Kill the Skulls. Try to Place and Aim your Colors well to intercept the Skull's path.
Avoid Killing the Little Critters if you can.

Nice tool!

Are there any plans for a desktop (downloadable) version in the future?

Thanks.

The jam theme was obvious, all game has a choice .. So, to make it interesting we tried to hide the choice, and later decided to link the choice with death, so if you "choose", you die. The solution came later :) + Tawfik Allah 1st and foremost :)

You can use the hint, please read the full description :) Good luck.