From my understanding, everything is fixed. Now I’ll probably try to add a robbery system some time tonight, wish me luck!
3 Likes
I think I’ll end development here, no robbery system (I don’t want to have a bug to fix this close to the deadline). I polished the menu, main game, and added my favorite new feature- destruction particles (they look so beautiful when you have TNT LOL).
Here are the links again.
Flowlab.io:
I’m well aware that there are some bugs, but they aren’t anything game-breaking and I’m too afraid to risk anything else for this game so, sorry!
4 Likes
Edited the title of the topic, since I see everyone is posting a topic for their game, I already have one but the topic title was outdated. Thanks for playing my short game!
3 Likes
If anyone has any game-breaking bugs they’ve noticed, let me know and I can fix them before the deadline!
3 Likes
Haven’t seen anything really - works great on my end!
3 Likes
Alright, getting off now… since I just finished a username system and avatar customization in my multiplayer game I’m making!
3 Likes
So apparently, @sans7657 has repeatedly speed-run my game, and somehow got every artifact in 8 seconds with auto-clicker. 
One every second I guess?
1 Like
Yep, exactly. The main problem is prob mona pizza, for some reason it’s really hard to get it.
1 Like
Don’t know, since they all have the same chances, you’re just unlucky I guess. 
Yep, the run killer is mona pizza. RIP
1 Like
Does anyone like my game or is it “just there” like “Caves and Cliffs”?
2 Likes
I liked it:D
sorry, just saw this lol
1 Like
I like it, only cuz I speedrun it tho
1 Like
I liked it once I figured out how to play.
1 Like
Could I please have feedback, my game was played by 19 people for the flowjam but not one of them (except for rcreger) has replied to any of my posts asking for feedback. I get it, you’re busy… but why ignore my post and reply to others asking for feedback? I just would like to make my game better, it’s easiest to do that with feedback.
1 Like
This is the same situation for me. I guess most people on here just don’t like Gamougg…
Game feedback
I think your game is really fun! It has a lot of replay value, and it will keep you engaged for a while trying to get all the artifacts. My only recommendation is for it to include more comedy. Don’t get me wrong, it is kinda funny, but it could use a little more funny (like memes).
1 Like
I’m not the best game designer, but just from going over a few basic variables on why a player would rate the game so low, I can guess what aspects of the game could be improved.
I also want to note that I’ll be going off of “The Science Education Resource Center’s” studies, (SERC).
I also want to note that everything I say should only be taken with a grain of salt, I am in no way qualified to even talk about this, I’m just here to present information for ease of consumption, also because I’m a massive nerd and like to study all this kind of stuff.
Anyway, I’ll start by going over each category that we could rate, Theme, Fun, Art/Sound, Creativity, then I’ll go into my own opinion followed by a more objective study of the game.
Theme
The theme of the jam was “Tap or Swipe”, I’ve noticed that most game designers decided to use Tap as the theme instead of Swipe, while this wouldn’t affect a game you made normally but this is a game jam so players will rate based off of the use of the theme. This appears to be the result of how difficult using the theme Swipe, most participants had little to no prior use of the swipe mechanic, and since tap is just clicking but for mobile, most reviewers saw Tap and rated it low because it was easier to make, but if the game used the theme Tap in a unique way it would also get a higher rating.
Overall, your use of the Tap theme was fairly basic, it’s use in gameplay was the only thing you could do in gameplay, it was not used in a unique way which made the game feel dull, it makes the reviewer feel as if you put little to no thought on what you could do with the theme.
A great example of good use of theme was DATE-A, the game is a play on dating apps, the player has the literal choice of whether to “Tap or Swipe”, the game developer took the use of the theme to a very creative level.
Fun
The meaning of “fun” is quite different for every person, for that reason, I will be taking information from specific studies on the subjects. According to the short article published by SERC, they conducted a study on what makes a good game. The test subjects were university students, they were presented with three different kinds of games: an educational simulation game, a strategy game, a narrative-driven adventure game, and a first-person shooter. They concluded that the most important elements of a game were logic, memory, visualization, and problem-solving. I won’t be focusing on those elements, I just thought it would be interesting to include them because they have vastly different meanings in different types of games.
The article goes into five different categories, Continuous Challenge, Interesting Storyline, Flexibility, Immediate useful rewards, and Combining Fun and Realism. I won’t go into some of them because some of them don’t apply to your game.
Continuous Challenge
The purpose of this is to keep the player “hooked”, giving the player challenge after challenge to give them short-term goals, each challenge should do something for the player, whether it’s them learning a new mechanic or giving them a special item, just something that contributes to the overall game.
In short, you need challenges for the player to overcome as to give them short-term goals to stay “hooked”, or else they lose interest.
Flexibility
If you give the player different ways to accomplish a challenge it makes the game feel less step-by-step and stifling. It encourages them to think about what to do, like in chess, you can choose a good move, while it might not be the best move you still feel a sense of achievement because you chose a move that contributed to the overall game.
Immediate, useful rewards
While using a point system is fast and easy, players feel better when they are given rewards that expand their gameplay, something that unlocks a new mechanic or makes the player’s experience more fun, just giving them a reward that doesn’t do anything makes their achievement feel less rewarding.
Those three principles are things that apply to your game.
You don’t give the player a challenge, it’s a mindless game of doing the same thing over and over again without anything that makes it challenging, while some games are casual and some players don’t like really difficult challenges, not having any challenges at all don’t make the rewards feel earnt, they feel like they were just given to you without you doing anything and it makes you think, did I play the game.
Your game has only one thing that you can do, there is no other way for the player to think about why do the things they do, their actions seem robotic and meaningless if you can’t do something different then your just doing the same thing over and over again, it isn’t any different from working in a factory, you do this one thing over and over again, it doesn’t become fun, it becomes boring and repetitive.
Rewards are handled differently in your game when a player digs up something it doesn’t feel rewarding, the player didn’t do much for it, it has no meaning to the player and therefore doesn’t become a reward, rather a notification that they did something.
Overall, “fun” isn’t something I alone can judge, but when you compare your game to studies done by authorities, SECR, and Carleton College, there isn’t anything that makes it rather “fun”.
A good example of challenges and flexibility is One Minute Miner, which has a constant timer that challenges the player, the flexibility in the game is great because there are different strategies you can do, you can skip the ore and just go for the time to keep the game from ending or go for the dynamite and to mine ore faster, the point is, it has a challenge that keeps the player going, failing can be fun too, when you run out of time you can strategize what to do next time to perform better.
Art/sound
Now, this is something I can talk about with a little confidence, I’ll start with art.
The sprites are simple, not saying they’re bad, simplistic styles are some of my favorites, you add detail here and there, and everything looks pretty polished, I would say they look great!
But, in terms of how it affects the game, it doesn’t, like, at all, it doesn’t add to the game, the rocks could have had small bits of dynamite to show that they could explode but it is all the same boring dull rocks, the sprites don’t signify or highlight or do anything for the gameplay.
A video at the bottom will do a quick little demonstration of how color works to highlight things, it’s like a minute long and explains everything perfectly.
So sound… yeah it’s great, nothing wrong with it here. Although I did encounter a bug that made a constant beeping sound after I completed the halls.
Creativity
I won’t judge it on how the game based on how unique its concept is, some reviewers might dock points if it’s just a copy of Pac man, snake, pachinko, or whatever but I won’t be focusing on that, instead, I’ll be judging based on how intuitive all aspects of the game are compared to itself, not other games.
Playability, there is little to no creativity, the player doesn’t do anything cool or interesting, and the gameplay isn’t intuitive in any way.
For art, the sprites are unique and the little characters are cute, 10/10, you did great on the creative part there.
The game itself, like the theme/setting/genre, is great, the idea of you going around digging up stuff is a unique approach but you didn’t expand on the idea as much as you could.
I don’t have much to say about this because there aren’t many spins or different things you can do in a game like this, creativity was your highest rating so I think you did pretty great, but you could have expanded more on the idea.
Now my own opinions of the game.
There is zero replayability, it’s repetitive and boring, you do great on the art and style of the game overall, which makes it very user-friendly and easy to understand. I think the genre of game you tried to go for wasn’t the best, nothing felt rewarding and I stopped playing after I got my second artifact. I don’t want to be too hard on it but the game itself just didn’t feel like I was playing a game.
Now from a more objective standpoint.
Here are the ratings.
| theme: | 3.105 stars |
|---|---|
| fun: | 2.737 stars |
| art: | 3.211 stars |
| creativity: | 3.632 stars |
| total ratings: | 19 reviews |
| final score: | 3.17 stars |
Looking at the ratings it shows that people rated the game at 3 stars for everything.
The game did contain the theme of taping and included the bonus thems of breaking and random.
The game, according to studies done by SECR, was fun enough to be played for 10 or so minutes per session, which is great for a short and simple game such as this, the game has also been played 187 times so people have gone back to it.
The art is simplistic and does what it needs to show everything, overall, good at adding decorations such as torches, characters’, skulls, etc.
Creativity was the highest-rated, there were only 2 games with the same concept of mining things to get something. Compared to other games not on flow lab, there aren’t many the stand out to me directly. Overall, it’s a concept you don’t see very often.
The average number of reviews seems to be 18-20, 19 reviews are the average amount.
So that’s it, my whole analysis. I tried to keep it short since I was getting a bit tired from typing all morning. I know that I was being a little bit rude and blunt so take everything with a grain of salt, I’m not trying to insult you, I just don’t know how to put it into words that aren’t blunt.
If you’re wondering how I can write all this, it’s my passive skill, “writing an essay quickly on short notice” from my class, “middle school student” as well as my “nerd” attribute, which boosts my class’s passive skill by 10%
Links
The Science Education Resource Center
-What Makes a Good Game?
-The use of computer games as an educational tool: identification of appropriate game types and elements
5 Likes
Nice, a whole essay that I will totally read. new pb, 7.21, got mona pizza and astronaut almost right away 
2 Likes
@_GAMOOG, Memes = Copyright strike lol
@glowbug, damn, thanks for the essay. It’s really appreciated, that’s the advice I’ve been looking for. I’ll take them all into play next time I make a game, actually… I’ll probably bookmark this topic so I know what NOT to do next time I participate.
@sans7657, good job!
2 Likes
doge