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Thank you !

Improved feedback is coming as soon as the voting period is over, the update is just waiting to be published
Though there is no score, maybe it could be something to add
The game was made harder to win as well

Well, our 3 endings are just a newspaper as well, to me it still counts as endings !
I might try to find the other endings later on I think, I'm intrigued

Neat little game, feels very polished !
I really liked the visuals and the dialogue
The combat is a little under the rest though

I wonder how many endings there are ?

Great atmosphere ! The visuals and sound effects work really well
It's a neat short story that wraps up well - it feels a bit like a playable nanofiction
I didn't really get the little foreshadowing before ending the game, but it should have clicked during the last dialogue with the professor. It's a nice detail.

The camera switching to 180°C in some dialogues is a bit hard on the eyes though, especially when switching each dialogue line but the effect worked well in other cases

The idea seems great and the visuals are very nice, but I had a really hard time trying to play the game

I didn't really succeed in sending anything because my timing when trying to enter morse code was pretty bad, giving "HT" instead of "4" for exemple or "NN" instead of C. I couldn't figure out how to add a space either, waiting does not seem to do anything. The biggest problem is that there is no way to erase what you have done (I know it would not be possible with real military communications but it could really have been nice to have in the game - maybe a button automatically sending some kind of "sorry, restarting" error message in morse code to reset it all) so I tried to change frequency to "reset" the message in some way but the log quickly stopped recording anything (after the content in the screenshot, nothing is being recorded anymore, I think the text field reached its limit)

There were also things I wasn't totally sure of, like should I include the tag ? (I supposed not) When should I apply the Cipher ? Not to the tag I guess, but to the message being sent ? It's a CESAR1 cipher, right ? Should I have sent "B5 DMS" for the first message ?

I would be interested in retrying the game if you add some sort of reset button, but for now it seems I'm too bad at typing morse code to succeed

Things you could improve in terms of UI : - the text is a bit on the small side and the heavy paper texture makes it even less comfortable to read, it could be nice to change the texture or make it a bit lighter and have the font size be a little bigger in the introduction message and second page of the desk manual (maybe spreading the text in multiple pages) - A margin around the introduction message and second page of the desk manual would be nice as well, the text feels too close to the border

Things you could improve in terms of UX : - it would be nice to be able to have the morse code sheat sheet open when sending a message, but the window is a bit too small for that (since the telegraph key is in the center of the screen) - fullscreen isn't working (the game window isn't rescaling)

Fun concept ! 
The adds felt really accurate to real-world adds x)
Really nice interpretation of the theme

Very great game. I had a blast playing it !
The atmosphere especially is fantastic

The only criticism I would have is that it would be nice to be able to leave the stones on the door in the final puzzle (while you check the different hints) but it wasn't a major problem either

You misfiled the fields for the jam though - the game page indicates that you did everything yourself, but the question for the jam submission is what did you NOT make from scratch during the jam

Thank you !

The different variations possible are the signature, the font used (there's a typewriter or handwriting font specific to each character) and the character's name that can be misspelled, or their assigned troops being written in roman letters numerals instead of the arabic letters they usually use (or the reverse). There is a bit more, like the falsified message often using the word "target" instead of "objective", but we didn't put it as a lone clue because it seemed a bit unfair to players.

The game is definitely lacking some clearer feedback, and a bit more balancing I think
I hope you had a nice time playing it regardless

Thank you very much !

We're thinking about making it a full commercial project ! If you're still interested despite a potential price tag I can add an anwer to this comment when it comes out/when the game page is created so you will have the information
We initially intended to put more things on the table but didn't have the time to do it in the end (and the knife will actually be useful)

If the offer still stands, we're currently stuck at 17 ratings with our game
We'd be very grateful if you could add a review
/jam/brackeys-16/rate/4950407

The core gameplay loop worked well and felt really smooth and polished

I really liked the art and the descriptions mechanics, it's simple yet effective but I think it would have been nice if the "identifying the suspects" part got a bigger role to play in the game. As is, it doesn't seem to change anything if you ignore the mechanic completely (I noticed the "panic button" very late on my first playthough but still had a successful outcome without using it once)

I think the UX for the "identifying the suspects" mechanic could also be improved if you :
- leave the player the time to read the newspaper before starting the day
- keep suspect's descriptions on the side of the screen so it can be checked quickly, or at least keep the newspaper open on the last page seen before putting it down

There is also a little bug where you have to reload the page if you want to replay the game (it shows the prologue and you previous game's results right after)

That was a very cute game and a treat to play ! (pun intentended)
It feels so different from others entries I've tried in this jam so far and it feels very refreshing
It really put a smile on my face

I think the game would look a lot better if the sprites were facing the camera though, it feels a bit skewed as is and doesn't do justice to the cute sprites. It could also help see them better I think.

Damn my workspace became a mess really quickly x)

I really liked the tone of the writing, especially the newspapers !
I think the game could be more enjoyable if it was a bit shorter or a bit more diverse with mechanics though (I know the second option would have been a lot of work with a game jam)

However, is it normal that so few letters actually fill the price requirements ? I feel like not 5% of letters checked could actually be approved, is that intentional because the prices are too steep for the people ? (if so, it could be really nice to see t mentioned somewhere in letters to be opened)
I don't remember having had a letter that was unpatriotic without being terroristic, either

Is there a penalty for not sorting letters in time ? The timer got to 00:00 quite often but it didn't seem to have much consequences (except being fired at the end maybe ?)

In terms of UX, the game experience would be smoother if all stamps worked on both letters and envelopes (re-opening a letter because you forgot to stamp it was really frustating), and the drop area for sending letters away often felt too small. The time errors remain on screen was also too short to fully read for me if there was more than one line.

I also had a bug where an error displays "true content flagged as null" or something adjacent

Well I had a good time playing this !
Fun concept, simple but effective visuals and amazing sound design. 

It's a shame it didn't get more attention, but I guess the title didn't help and the capsule, although visually nice and very representative of the game may not have been attention-grabbing enough. Maybe you could try playing a bit more with contrast if you want more people playing your game ?

Oh, okay !
I was so conviced it would have something to do with the notes I didn't even try to find something related to this message

Not at all !

We thought you could be able to update the map yourself with the informations given if you wanted before receiving the official reports

I do think having a scale factor on the death counts in key points of the conflict could be a great thing to add to emphasize the importance of certain messages

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback and have a very nice day !

Thank you very much!

We are currently thinking about expanding the game into a full commercial release (probably with a low price) with a lot more variety and features. If it happens and you're still interested despite a potential price tag, I can post an answer to your comment here when it comes out?

We did think about the time limit but decided to make soldiers die over time instead (so you're a bit pressed by time if you decide to care, but that might not be constraining enough for now) and we did think about the writing style difference but didn't get too much time to implement during the jam as we had to rush a bit to write the messages. If you remember anything (though I guess it would be difficult to remember the details), I would be curious to know which message you found suspicious because of its length though, as we did try to keep a consistent writing style for each character and I couldn't really figure out which one you meant by going though all messages (except maybe the ceasfire one which is considerably longer than other messages from said character, but it doesn't result in many ally losses)

I would also be curious to know what kind of events you were thinking about ? We did think about updates about the front line in the form of maps and seeing the result of your actions in subsequent messages, but I don't know if it ressembles what you had in mind and any suggestion is very welcome.

Really great atmosphere and I adore the theme and how it reflects in the changing layout but I became a bit frustrated at some of the puzzles (I'll add more details under the spoiler warning)
A little conclusion would have been nice as well, to give players some closure (even if it's just two lines of text on a black background)

*** SPOILER WARNING ***
What I did not understand about the puzzles :
- I don't really get why you have to take the second pill from the left to get the key, is it just trial and error ?
- For the clock, after trying to enter every hour I memorized to no avail I tried every possible combination and it ended up giving up the key with 8:05 but I don't remember seeing this time anywhere in the notes ?

Thanks a lot !

The knife was an axed idea about opening letters before reading them (it's actually more of a paper cutter)

By "some more effects", do you mean animations and visual effects (that's the impression I got from your message and yes, it would definitely be nice) or did you have something else in mind ?

Thanks a lot ! 
We'll think about changing that after the voting period has ended, you're not the first to point it out

Thank you very much !

And yes, the game is definitely lacking some feedback. The main idea would be to at least give the counters some colors when they change beacuse of your actions, and if we ever expand this into something more, to see the consequences of your actions in subsequent letters.

I think I might have approached the game wrong, I didn't dare accuse anyone as long as I didn't have something more consistent and ended up dying without trying anything unfortunately

I like the sound effects and the variety in the character's personalities though

I had a big pet peeve with the colliders though, as they are very wide and there are a lot of places where it looks like you can pass through even though you can't - shrinking them down would make the game much more smooth and enjoyable

Really great game, I had a blast playing it
Making a solo version of a hidden role game is pretty creative and it is very well executed
I love the UI as well, it's polished and very satisfying

I think it could be great if you could unzoom on the suspects though, it can be pretty long to go through the entire lineup on later levels. It could also help to check if a role is appearing twice or not

Thanks a lot ! =)

Thank you very much !
We might think about it if we decide to continue working on the game

Thank you very much !

We did think about adding feedback with color but it was on the last day so we left it like that. I'm pretty surprised you're the first to point out a lack of feedback, actually.

The numbers are increasing a bit even when you're not doing anything to cause a bit of a feeling of urgency and to show that the war keeps going on.

Now, for the big secret : the knife is actually a paper cutter !
At first, we thought about opening letters with the paper knife beforehand (there would have been a dedicated seal for the generals and the bureau that would have needed to be verified as well) but it didn't make it into the game.
We still decided to add the paper cutter to make the desk feel a bit less empty.

I really liked the character designs and the 2.5D but unfortunately I can't manage to play the game as picking up a second item or trying to put down the one I had rendered me incapable of moving around (playing in web export). Attempted to relaunch the game 4-5 times with the same result.
I also got trapped in an infinite dialogue loop trying to talk to the police.

Amazing visuals, wonderful UI and great prose !
The ending feels a bit more rushed though, but I had a nice time playing the game

Thank you for taking the time to answer !

Thanks a lot !

We also had a game about censoring information to fit a totalitarian governement's narrative in our initial brainstorming actually ! It was one of our favorites
We chose the current concept because it felt overscoped for the both of us though

Oh alright, thank you very much !
I'll go back to playing the game when I have some time

It really is a very interesting concept, and well executed at that !
I'm pretty impressed by this submission.

However, I couldn't manage to do anything for editing the messages and could only print them (playing in web export) and I feel like I missed a big chunk of the game, but it didn't look like anyone else had the same problems ? Did it depend on something other than selecting the tool and using the mouse on the text ?

Thank you so much !

Well, can you trust the fact you've won ?
More seriously, there are three endings in the game, and each has its own newpaper article : if the newspaper says the war is won, it means you sorted at least 75 % of messages correctly and won the game.

Nice little game, the narration peaked my interest and the art is absolutely stunning !
Didn't see the ending coming haha x)

I would love to see more if you plan on reworking on the game to make the ending more complete

Thanks a lot !

Cool and smart concept that works well
This is a very nice game

I see that you put "in development" in the game info, do you plan on expanding the concept after the jam ?

I think the indication about what assets you made might be incomplete though. What do you mean by "interaction system" ? And did you really make all the 3D assets, the pins icons, the maps, the letters, the cursor, the music and the dialogue boxes (when concluding a level) from scratch alone in just one week ?

Thanks a lot !

We're really glad that you enjoyed the game, although I can see how it can become repetitive - we will add a bit more diversity if we ever decide to expand the game, but we kept it simple for the jam.

For the music, we tried to keep it a bit discreet so the volume isn't very high and we forgot to make it loop so maybe that's why you didn't notice it ? Another comment did say they heard the music so it doesn't seem to be a problem with the export.

Thank you very much ! 

We weren't sure if the game would actually feel good to play so we're very glad to know you enjoyed it ! =)

It seems we forgot to make the music restart... but I think it fits the "bug fixing" period allowed for the jam so I'm going to fix this this afternoon I think

And yeah, the cursive font might be a bit hard to learn. The problem is we selected fonts according to signatures rather than the contrary, and although we did think it could be hard to read, we decided to keep it with a bigger font size since it is really close to handwriting seen in old letters (even as close as our grandparents - it seemed normal at the time but it feels so hard to read now ?) - but that may have been a bad design choice.

Thank you very much !
We did feel that as well and we're planning to add a shield and/or parry mechanic but it was too late in the jam to add. It will come to the game with the next update.
I hope you were still able to defeat the big monsters mandatory to get to the boss ?

Thank you !
Sprint will be coming with the next update