itch.io

Love the tone and color work here! 

To your question about scale: have you ever played Elebits? In that game you had a gravity gun that you'd use to lift things and find little creatures. The initial levels were about picking up books and small things on a desk and by the end of the game you were tossing houses around. 

Given that, one solution to consider is to work backwards and scale down a bit. Maybe the first level is automating a single object (light bulb). Then a small appliance. Then a single room. THEN the first house?  

Starting with a single object also might be a nice introduction to some of the core gameplay elements (linking your assistant, manual off/on, automation, etc.) before upping the complexity.

Thanks for the reply! I'm excited to see this how the game evolves.

• I will note that I noticed the teen being intentionally antagonistic with the light and thought, "oh, this is an interesting twist." At the same time, when trying to progress through the game it was a frustration because it felt like I was being asked to complete things that weren't possible. A balance there will help, but definitely keep the anti-AI teenager, it's a fun element that mixes it up a bit! 
• Queuing: Wow! In my games I never saw this at the shower. In an earlier version it was constantly the TV and in this new version it happened a couple times with the garage door opener. 
• I sort of like the idea of needing to wire in and out of a device. There could be a fun little puzzle element there of needing to connect with a device by snaking your way there, but that also adds a whole new element and gameplay loop. So, maybe better saved for the future :) 
• I'll also note that the previous versions felt like they did a better job of communicating what the next upgrade level of an appliance would do. Currently, it's a little tricky to know what to prioritize since TIMER could mean "shuts off automatically" but could also mean "switches on/off during the day." I think either giving users a preview of what the next tier does and/or changing terminology (TIMER for some, AUTO OFF for others) would help!

This is a really fun concept! I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to where it goes.

Some thoughts:

• There are times I go to connect the power to something and then decide not to. Esc works to cancel, but a right click here feels natural and would be a nice little QOL improvement.
• There are times when the game zooms in on a character or the family, and the rest of the house seems to still be progressing. Several times I saw unmet needs or things I needed to interact with and that was frustrating. The action seems like it should pause in this moment.
• I was caught off guard by the first visiting pedestrian. I wasn't sure if it was part of the story or something I needed to interact with.
• There are a few times when family members queue for appliances, and this felt frustrating as the second person was standing there with an orange 'need' icon that I couldn't resolve. It might be nice in these moments if there was a secondary icon showing they were waiting? Maybe some sort of different-colored mark? 
• The double-clicking to establish a circuit feels weird as an interaction. It might be because I'm already clicking on the appliance. 
  • Is the second click supposed to be an "approve" step? Maybe filling the circle with an OK? or check mark might help make that action clearer?
• I'm still a little unclear how "learning" works. When I interact with a device it seems to fill up a somewhat arbitrary amount. Does it fill better if a do a "perfect" on/off cycle? Is it just time spent on?
• It might be nice if the hit area for an appliance was as big as the appliance itself. I kept missing the fridge especially.
• I like some of the little story beats that were added.
• It feels like the UI is a lot fuzzier since the UI/UX update? 
• I'm confused by the teen. I got the light in the room to finally evolve to smart by brute forcing it. I was never sure what to do with the computer. It seemed like she was using it, but I never actually had a chance to turn it off and on. 
• In the last version, the laundry appliances were used heavily. This time, they were one of the few things left standing that were almost never interacted with.
  • It might be nice if the assistant could mess with the house in such a way to force people to use appliances. Eg. if I made the house hot, it would force the family to interact with AC; if I did something to mess their clothes they'd need to do laundry.