The castle is immense and interesting to explore. Some rooms are partially hidden by the UI, making them gratifying to discover. Good variety of assets given the timeframe. Also very nice audio; your musical progression reminded me a bit of what you would hear in the most dramatic parts of Frostpunk.
From what I understand, the game plays like a simplified version of Clue. You get one testimony, one proof, and one murder weapon; every suspect is linked to at least two of them, but only one is linked to all three at once. Finding the best way to get all three as fast as possible before someone else dies is the entire point of the game. Is that correct?
It's a bit strange then that the game tries to look like there's way more under the hood than what's required. I feel like you've added a lot of pieces to the game, but not all of them seem to fit together. The concept looks like Clue, but the game itself plays like Among Us. Suspects are wandering about the castle, but none of them are useful to the case. It's possible to skip time, but no point in doing so. The pace is very slow, but the music is intense and dramatic.
You have a pretty solid entry here, but I think it would have been stronger with a tighter focus. Maybe make it so that the link between a guest and a clue is only discovered by talking to them?
Good job to both of you though, very nice result for such a small team.
Probably the most elegant "everyone lies" puzzle game I've seen during the jam. Your writing style forces the player to stop in their track and take some time to absorb every hint, It makes the deduction process a lot more gratifying. Having a game more centered on reading comprehension and culture than logic feels very nice after so many pure puzzle, I really appreciate that. Althouth I started getting repeat room pretty quickly I understand how hard it must have been to add much more.
The presentation is pretty much perfect for your subject matter, everything is sleek and minimalist, not a single thing too much. Especially love your music choice : most of the time you barely notice it's there and then it hits you with that accordion. Perfect fit for the whole thing.
If I had to nitpick so that my review isn't just pure sycophancy I'd say that an option to click on a text bubble to get to the next dialogue would have been really nice. They're a bit too slow as it is and I sometime had to wait 2-3 seconds just to get the extra bit of info I needed.
Amazing job, absolutely podium worthy, hats off to you all.
Oh wow, thanks a lot for the video ! Always a joy to see someone interact with the game directly, it really highlight everything I've failed to convey. Your feedback regarding formating is most appreciated it's something that I've really struggled with.
Guests refusing to acknowledge the murderer when they're in the same room is so easy that it feels like cheating. I'll definitely change that in the future when more clues comes into play.
Again, deepest thanks. Seeing you struggle with the game has been invaluable.
I can't believe that crash on the whodunit screen went under my radar, it's the first time I hear about it. Hope it wasn't too much of a dealbreaker.
I'll definitely add more detail to that screen and revamp the testimony system entirely in the extended version. It's been the number 1 complan since the jam has started.
Thanks a lot for playing and for the very useful feedback. I appreciate it.
Neat looking game, got to the pearly gate on first try. The prisonners dilemna is always a nice concept to dance around but It can really get stuck upon itself when it's too deterministic. Here, I think it never reaches its full potential.
It's fairly easy to max relationship with every single demon by loosing a few coins on their first rounds. Then it's smooth sailing until the end by spamming "Share" every turn. Relationship stay maxed out, coins keep pouring in and everyone is happy, but it's a death sentence for excitement. I feel like having more varied encounters with more defined character would make the game a lot more enjoyable, like a demon that would betray even at high relationship. It would vary gameplay and make first encounter more of a gamble.
The same goes for items, their effects are varied and interesting, it's avery great touch. But they're so cheap that it's trivial to get yourself a full arsenal before midgame. It's a shame as it's the most interesting part of the game, you have some really neat ideas going there.
Still, solid entry, great interpretation of the theme. It just need some balancing.
Nice entry. It reminded me a lot of older flash games like "Give up" or "Depict1" with some "The Stanley Parable" sprinkled on top.
It's a bit of a shame that most of your difficulty is contained within the initial gauntlet, once the player is done with it it's mostly narration until the end. The gauntlet itself is pretty good however, easy to figure out but tough to get through due to Mariella being both heavy and slippery.
I appreciate you having multiple endings. Having to replay the gauntlet every time is fine by me but I was a bit frustrated to have to watch the narrator rummage through the codebase each time. An option to skip this on repeat playthrough would be much appreciated.
Oh wow, what a great entry, this completely went under my radar.
Excellent interpretation of the theme. Having to play against a cheater is already an interesting premise but changing the rules after each call-out is really going the extra mile, I love this. Altough I would have loved being able to choose which game to play first. Having to go through Tic-tac-toe and rummy before getting to UNO is a bit of a bother on repeat playthrough. Especially since Tic-tac-toe can be won the same way every time and her alteration to the rule doesn't change that much there.
Visual are a bit prototype-y but still pleasant. Your host is the highlight of the game, nice variety of facial emotion, she's full of personality. Your cards and tic-tac-toe boards could be better looking, but then again, we only had one week. I'm impressed enough that you've managed to cram three whole games into this. Amazing job.
Simple idea but a very nice execution. I was surprised to see how much assets you've produced, good looking sprites all around. Actually working mirrors are a rarity, even on much bigger projects. Your intro slides are also very nice.
Having mirrors be the way to discover vampires is a stroke of genius, very nice touch. I love that you've given the player more than enough way to investigate monsters. One big problem however : since every guests arrive from the same door it's possible to simply camp in front of it. As soon as the "monster bar" get a spec of red, it's evident that the last arriving guest is a monster. One way to fix that would have been to have two or three differents doors.
Pretty solid entry overall, I would love to see this expended with more monsters. Nice job !
Testimonies are repetitive because the guest's movement is, unfortunately, completely random. They just aimlessly jump from room to room.
Strange testimonies can, however, indicate a lie if a guest move to the same colored room twice in a row or manage to teleport to a room that's not adjacent to the one they were currently in. They'll usually avoid admiting that they've entered the crime scene at all cost.
Super charming. Your writing and artstyle work well together.
Gameplay itself seems simple, but confused me. Other pawn shop simulators I've played during this jam were pretty much entirely random when it came to their client. Your question system seems to imply that there is a way to guess if someone is honest or not but I've not found it. I think it would be great to clarify what indicate that a client is lying.
Although I must say it's a nice change of pace to actually have a way to tell which client is telling the truth, even if it eluded me. Excellent way to spice up the gameplay, especially since your clients are handmade and not randomly generated. Very nice writing on your part, loved the Christmas tree.
Love to have one guy whose whole purpose is to clear his throat so I can come and do his job and to have him still fall asleep.
Very interesting entry and excellent gameplay loop. It took me a bit to understand that I was supposed to select a plane before ordering it to change altitude. It sounds obvious but it somehow eluded me. Planes crash were my number 1 concern for most of my first playthrough.
Despite how polished everything is, I feel like the game never truly reach its full potential. A hard mode would have been most appreciated as i felt like most of my playtime was waiting for something to happen. It's a shame as the game can get pretty frantic when a bunch of things start going wrong at once while you have to micromanage your airspace.
All in all, great entry, one of my favorites. I'm playing gems after gems today.
What an absolute gem of a game, great level of polish, great visuals, great music, although it's a bit sad that the best one is reserved for the title screen. Your writing is top notch, it reminded me a lot of the Paranoia TTRPG. Amazing way to set the tone. The whole cold tea sequence is great.
Gameplay itself is also pretty great, although It may be a bit too slow to get going. I felt like the early game was both too long and too easy, which damaged the tone quite a bit. The game gets a lot more engaging when difficulty really starts to ramp up and you get 2-3 alerts back to back.
Overall really solid entry, probably in my top 3 for the entier jam. Amazing work.
When I saw the thumbnail I wasn't expecting roguelike 1984 minesweeper, what a pleasant surprise. It's such a rich vein of game ideas.
I like the twist you've put on the formula but I wish there was more special citizen role. Minesweeper is pretty much a solved game so the game needs all the help it can get to preserve its difficulty.
Thanks for playing ! Their vaguepost is a simple step-by-step of their movement before the murder. They'll just avoid mentioning the crime scene and the murderer as muche as possible (that's one of the main way to identify the culprit).
Good catch on the lighter, I completely missed that.
The game is nothing too original but I can see you're having fun with it. Everything felt appropriatey juicy, having the option to speed up the game is deeply appreciated and I've discovered far too late that there was a leaderboard. Amazing level of polish, especially under such a tight deadline.
Art is your strongest suit though, amazing variety of assets, great level of detail. That style is a perfect fit for your tone, it feel like a less-unhinged Harry Partridge.
My one grip with the game is the "next wave" bot. It seems to always find a way to come 2 or 3 seconds early, meaning I'll click on it by accident and get forced to rush the last luggage. Having it spawn a bit later (or elsewhere) would be a nice improvement.
Cool twist, I was expecting a betrayal, but not that one. Nice subversion of expectations.
I was starting to get bored on my first playthrough before I realised that spells were increasing in difficulty as the fight advanced. This ended up being pretty challenging.
I feel like more spells would better convey the theme of distrusting your own magic, but then again we only had one week. Interesting interpretation nevertheless.
I really like your visuals and how cohesive everything looks and sound, fine entry.
Last month, as I was birdwatching, I saw a magpie fly over a sparrow. Seeing the shadow pass over him was such a terrifying experience for the little guy that he immediatly started screaming for his life before fleeing.
This reminded me a lot of him, I wonder what he's up to right now.
Anyway, really pretty game. The gameplay is nothing special but you largely make up for it with sheer immersion. The feeling of dread and panic is perfectly transcribed. I was a bit disapointed to see that the scrolling simply stops when the player is expected to hide, it make the danger feel less organic which is what the game seems to be all about.
Really solid entry all around, the visuals and the sounscape are gorgeous.
C'est peut être un bug de mon coté, mais le jeu sautait de l'anglais au français constamment.
En dehors de ça, très bien fichu. J'ai vu peu de point&click pendant cette jam alors ça fait plaisir de voir qu'il en reste toujours. L'enquête coule vraiment toute seule, on trouve le nom des habitants sans problème, joli boulot. Le twist a failli tomber à plat à cause des 15 autres jeux de la jam qui ont fait quelque chose de similaire, mais le coté cyclique m'a bien surpris. Jolie idée.
Probably the best take on the "adventurer guild" management sim that I've seen during this jam. Finding the two traitors is engaging but perfectly manageable, very nice balancing job with your roles. Especially nice touch that they get automatically noted when revealed during an heist.
The visual style complements your writing very well. Everything about this is extremely charming and it's always a joy to hear anything made by MacLeod.
Hershey, Graham, Ambrosia, you were absolute troopers. Thanks for everything.
Striking visuals. High contract makes it very easy to spot the different types of pins, in such a tight crowd it's a really good call on your part.
The idea is interesting but held back by technical shortcomings. The ballroom is gigantic and densely packed with guests, sometime overlapping with each other and hiding their pin. This combined with the hitboxes problem makes it a bit tedious to find the intruder when she spawn close to other guest.
The clunky testimonies are, as you probably guessed, a product of the time constraint. Guests do not make any distinction between different corridors so they'll always call it "a corridor" even if they've crossed three different ones. I plan on overhauling the whole testimony system in the extended version.
Thanks for playing and for the very detailed review ! I appreciate it.
Stepladder argument, circus, absolutely bonker modus operandi. You can feel Ace atorney every step of the way.
Really cool entry. While the gameplay itself is a bit clunky the game largely makes up for it by simply being a good little investigation. The solution to each arguments never feel too far fetched, I was able to guess the culprit pretty quickly, very smooth stuff.
Solid entry despite some technical shortcoming. I can see the corner you've cut in the gym, really imaginative way to compensate a lack of assets. That's a great skill to have when working under tight constraints.
This just like playing Zelda 1 while going under anesthesia, and it's actually pretty good.
Love how cruel you're allowing yourselves to be here. The guy scamming you out of your boomerang at the very start of the game and preventing you from ever killing the own boss is downright evil.
