Erik, I played through the demo in one sitting and had a good time.
No bugs to report; I'll share my review of the demo here. Knowing a bit of the kinds of things you devote attention to, which make your developed work more than just a polished game, but also intentional craft that could be considered art, I looked for those touches along the way.
I chose to wait till this moment to come into the game mostly fresh, except for the bits you've shared openly here. I'll share my thoughts about my experience, because I'm guessing you want to hear it all.
The loading image worked. I liked the aesthetic. It was a few moments. Nothing annoying, but seeing it multiple times, I'd probably want to have some visual progression to keep my mind engaged on startup. (Kids these days, eh?)
I enjoyed the intro that brought me straight into the world. I liked starting play right there from the beginning, then being brought in further. Having a clutter-free UI kept me immersed.
Visuals and colors were engaging and the lines felt crisp, making it clear this is a puzzle game.
Enjoyed the dialog. Emm seems to react as an every-woman might. God is wonderfully...hmm...British in his theatrics. I love it already
The Biblical satire right up-front was a hoot. The mood seemed light and not serious. I immediately didn't take this god seriously, and it seems Emm isn't about to either.
Puzzles started nice and easy. A few puzzles in, I found a present! Then I realized there is more to this place than the areas the obvious spaces are enticing me toward. I like the use of vertical space to make puzzles and hide secrets.
Climbing up and down stairs is fun, and flinging myself lets me move around about as fast as I want to, while also making for some nice puzzles.
The music and sounds were fascinating! Movement sound effects were satisfying and quickly became a natural part of the immersion.
Emm's rapid step animation looks good. From past work, I believe I know what you're going for here. As a matter of personal preference, it feels a bit too jerky to me. I like the smoothness of stepping moves made in, say,
Smart Moves better.
I think the camera angle works and the camera generally does a good job of showing what needs to be shown and obscuring what needs to be obscured. Though I didn't take the time to carefully experiment, I think I perceived spots where the camera expanded its view to show off more of the area from that point on, once I had advanced sufficiently to cover paths less travelled. There were some spots where it seemed the camera's view was specifically limited, or rather the areas specifically shaped, to intentionally obscure necessary details until I made the effort to explore and find what I needed. This felt like an interesting design, like being shown a stage where a play is unfolding.
I like the clean interface and minimal settings required. Let's me just focus on playing.
The incremental introduction of game elements felt like a good pace for the demo. It took me a moment to figure out how letter blocks worked, and then it started to feel safe to play with them however I wanted. I like the mechanics. How you crafted the "
secret"
words felt intuitive and it was gratifying to discover and identify what I'm supposed to do with them.
It took me a while to realize I couldn't kill(?) that squirrely guy by walking around in the main chamber. It took me getting frustrated with trying to make him go where I wanted before I decided to try something else and look around some more. I both liked the and hated the ambiguity and experience of how God was being so reassuring in such a pushy, even aggressive, way in this area. To say nothing about the command from on-high to kill an innocent wretch. The things he said became hilarious, but I chose to turn the sound down momentarily when it got to the point that I felt I was being brainwashed
I kept looking for more presents and held some intention to seek them out. I found nearly all of them after the first one I spotted. I like how Emm calls attention to one at some point so the player becomes aware of their existence before too long.
The "
pit of despair"
: At first, I was intimidated by this puzzle. I was thinking that I was supposed to bring the blocks
uphill...somehow. Maybe by...stacking them? And then flinging them onto the next tier? After a moment of that nonsense, I realized that couldn't possibly be what you're after, and I brought everything downhill.
I liked the song. My attention was split between listening to the song and looking at the singers and beginning to take in the puzzle. Maybe the singers actually made me fear this puzzle more than Emm did. She reassured me I could do this and it probably wouldn't be a big deal.
Voice sound clips: there were a couple places where what someone was saying was immediately cut off, and I would have liked to have finished listening to what they said (because I followed the recommendation to keep subtitles off, and I didn't have the benefit of reading the line they were about to say). IIRC, one such spot was at the Forks, when I stepped forward -- too close -- when the song had just ended. I assume I wasn't supposed to do that, but I hadn't given the queen time to articulate her expectations before sound jumped forward to her reprimand.
The linear ordering of puzzle areas to restore to works with the amount of content in the demo. Wondering how this will be organized to manage navigating the full game's content efficiently and keeping track at a glance of which presents I've obtained.
I like the ending screen! Your humor works well for me in this space you've created.
I left the experience wanting more. I think this is great for a demo: feels like the right amount of content and time for a demo, to experience the game, the world, the visuals, the characters, and gather some feelings of what the experience was like.
Questions I'm left with: what are God's motivations? Why keep Emm and everyone else in this place? Do people really die?
I felt safe solving these puzzles. I didn't worry about dying. Puzzle size felt right. Amount of time spent in each puzzle felt right. The types of puzzles felt familiar, yet fresh.
I liked looking at the backgrounds and hints of immense spaces looming behind the immediate puzzle area.
I liked the title for each area. Some of the area names made it feel that there is a logical progression for the locale Emm is going through. As the player, reflecting afterward, I would have liked to understand a bit more about the place I was in. Do these places comprise a logical space, or is it just like Alice in Wonderland, going from one odd encounter to another? Given there is a story, having a concrete goal and destination made clear up-front (even if it's just the first milestone of many) would give my mind something to look forward to in addition to clearing puzzles. Not a lot of exposition needed; just a bit to explain where Emm is going and why she's motivated to move forward. How/why she has faith in the first place that moving forward will take her somewhere. Or is she just curious? Exploring? Does she have a destination in mind? Is she trying to run away from God? To get back to her previous life (assuming she's really in an afterlife)? Just a rat in a maze?
Looking forward to the full experience! Want to know what happens between Emm and God. Looking forward to more puzzle elements. More stairs, and more spaces that are interesting to look at and move around in. It's on my wishlist for 2022!
____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
[Last edited by mrimer at 08-10-2021 07:21 AM]