I’m not trying to be rude, and I’m probably going to touch on this some in the review, but you’ve asked multiple times why people don’t take you seriously. At this point you have to understand why
4 Likes
This comment.
1 Like
If it’s mature games you’re looking for, here’s one about stepping in poop! 
Review at your leisure and discretion.
6 Likes
Actually your supposed to be slow and trap the monster guy, but It’ll be better in the full version, improving art, more mechanics, etc
2 Likes
Well that’s not something I thought I’d read today, I’ll get on those reviews tonight!
@DeadlyGumChewer thanks for the tip, you might want to list the controls somewhere
3 Likes
The Weezer music in the bg is surprisingly fitting , nice work on the game considering how quickly it was made!
3 Likes
I talk more about the Weezer influences in my post-mortem on itch.
4 Likes
That makes a lot more sense now. Always intresting how the game creation process works out even if the game doesn’t in the way you necessarily wanted
3 Likes
I understand.
1 Like
Just scrapped this game, so a final review would be nice, so I can see how to improve future games.
2 Likes
@ManiacPumpkin The Heuchler
Art 7/10: The art is great, and the background objects really feel vibrant and alive! I’m noticing a lack of animation in the player which was a bit of a bummer, but I know this was created in a set time-frame so you definitely had your priorities straight. Id say that if you plan to continue updating the game to add a bit more animations on the player character, such as something for transforming into the scientists and when you run out of meter.
How well the art fits the style 7.4/10: The art feels great in gameplay and nothing really feels out of place. the special guards (the ones that try to kill you no matter what) are very nicely made, but don’t pose much of a threat for much of the game. I noticed myself ignoring them at most times and not really caring if it’s a red zone or not. I’ll touch base on this more a little later
Gameplay 2/10: pretty simple, wasd to move, enter to advance dialog, click the scientist to transform, and e to interact. Mostly just wandering around following tasks given to you by a mysterious figure and looking for items. It felt natural, but didn’t really present anything new or revolutionary
Enjoyment 5/10: I’m a little biased saying this, but it is a pretty enjoyable game. As you can probably tell I have a soft spot for top down games and this pretty much delivers on what it’s set out to do. Good job on making the player feel rewarded, but it could use a little polishing.
Difficulty 4.5/10: Relatively challenging. The biggest threat being your disguise dropping right in front of a camera. Those special guards I mentioned earlier feel a bit clunky on the way they work. They seem to either never notice you at all or see you at times that feel completely impossible.
Story 7/10: this is the real draw of the game. I’ll try to stay spoiler free since this is definitely worth experiencing on your own, but overall it feels well thought out. I found 2 of the 3 endings and they did feel rewarding. I’d say the biggest problem/coolest part of the game depending on the viewpoint are the multiple endings feeling natural, like this is the one ending you’re supposed to find. If I wasn’t told about the multiple endings I probably would have no idea that choice even matters in this game, which can be good and bad.
Sound design 3/10: right away you enter the menu (what a menu by the way) and the first thing you hear is flowlab made music. Now this isn’t a bad thing, the tracks are very good if you pick the right ones, but most of the sounds and music just felt tacked on. The most notable being the ambiance in-game. I’m wearing headphones and can hear the loop keep going over and over and over again, although it does help with the tone it could be better.
Title 7/10: It not only fits the game, but it really has meaning once you start to figure out the story a little bit more. This Heuchler is very mysterious while also maintaining that borderline evil vibes throughout. And that title screen! Mwa, chefs kiss!
Originality 8/10: This game feels new all the way through, it does have some tropes I see quite a bit in top down (kinda horror-esk) games, but overall this is a one of a kind experience on flowlab that you won’t find anywhere else. Definitely worth a play-through.
Game Feel 5/10: The game does feel good, there isn’t much that I can say feels great about the feel except for achieving an ending. But it does feel good. A lot of the feel has to do with the gameplay which is quite lacking, but was brought up drastically by the art and a little bit from the sound design
Creativity 8/10: you took a lot of creative freedom in this game that could’ve ended badly, but was handled very well. A lot of your games follow the same sort of story (this one had similarities but was pretty different than most of your games) and vibe and although this one is no different it doesn’t feel the same as your other games in the typical sense. And this is totally okay, because you know what you like and you know what you’re good at! This is the type of game i’ve grown to know you for and honestly I’m loving every second of it!
Overall 7.8/10: This was a fun game with a cool story, and frankly this is the type of quality i’ve grown to expect from you. This was a great time, and i’m glad to see how much love you put into the game. Great job maniac!
Reward: The ramshackle badge of approval
(credit to huckleberry for the sprite)
7 Likes
Thanks so much for the review, it definitely helps to know how the game was from someone else’s perspective.
I knew gameplay would have been kinda low since the original idea I had was a little bit difficult to implement and considering it was a flowjam game, I had very little time to add something similar, but I do plan on updating this and making the game more unique.
I thought about adding hacking into specific areas and codes that needed to be found for safes to find further items. Maybe more enemies and a cleaner shape-shifting mechanic.
Also with the story, not going to spoil, but It’s actually based on a series of stories that are apart of the Scepter foundation. Similar to SCP, but a more simplistic. Although I say simplistic, it can get very far in depth. I have stories upon stories for each individual subject. Such as Subject: 005 or the Heuchler. The game Flee is Subject: 002 or the Famine Slime (I think thats the name). The Facility’s main enemy is Subject: 009 or the Ceramic Skull. Plus many more. I haven’t added them into flowlab though, but I have made some stories based off of them.
I wanted to add some common subjects into The Heuchler like 009. I did add 007 or the table entity, but it really didn’t give much of a use like I originally had it. I should probably do a discussion for explaining many of these entities, so that way the community knows what most of them are. I made cool documents explaining each one on a google docs somewhere.
Anyway I’m really glad you liked it and I hope to add more to it. Hopefully make the game much more cleaner and add more stuff to do.
Also which two endings did you find? I was just curious. You can post them allowed or pm me, which ever you prefer.
5 Likes
Hey, would you try mine? I’m planning an update and I want to know what should be improved on and what should be added.
6 Likes
Of course! I have a few reviews I have to get done before I get to yours, but I should be able to get to it relatively soon.
5 Likes
It’s not very well polished but I’m proud of the mechanics I’ve made
4 Likes
Why is this dead outta no where man disapeared
3 Likes
I wouldn’t consider 12h dead, just inactive.
4 Likes
He’s reviewing games, which takes time
6 Likes
I know when I started up the Pumpkin Previews (My own review discussion a while back) I got swarmed with a ton of requests on games so I know this isn’t much of an easy job, but it’s quite fun to do. Also I realized I’m horrible at rating games on a scale depending on sound and gameplay and stuff cause I’m usually not too harsh and tend to give way higher score than what it should be. I don’t think I gave anyone lower than a 6/10 as an overall grade. So I can see how much time and effort Ramshackle must put into each review.
6 Likes