Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Choosing to make a game difficult by default is a bold choice, especially in a contest where Fun to Play is a judging metric. Giving players the option to reduce the difficulty was definitely needed, but essentially nullifying the combat mechanic of the game made it feel unsatisfying to play, especially when the platforming element was still incredibly difficult due to clunky controls. The abundance of accessibility options was great to see, particularly the remappable controls, as well as both visual and text-based control guides. The visuals of the game were good, but I was grateful for the Silent Butt Deadly option to mute the repetitive sound effects.
• Bean Man was a challenging experience, one that overshadowed my sense of accomplishment after completing a level. Fart explosions was a unique take on the theme "Explosions Make it Go". I think it accomplished its task of matching the theme. In its current state, I do not believe the game is beatable by most players unless they are on the infinite life difficulty. This game is oppressively difficult in a way that isn't very fun. While platforming, it's very hard to gauge where you land, and trying not to fall off is a frustrating experience. The game had a few accessibility features, some of which were intended to be implemented. Unfortunately, the UI in its current state detracts from accessibility. Having to constantly remap abilities after every death was cumbersome. If you forgot to do it, that run was instantly ruined. There were no instructions on how to remap or indicators that you were In the process of doing so. Although a nod to a classic platformer style, the game had some uniqueness that I could appreciate. Visually, the game looks great and has some solid animations. The mix of styles between sprites and the game's background was noticeable. The music throughout the game, tho a bit repetitive, was pleasant to listen to. The fart sounds were good and worked well with the animations.
• Theme: Maybe it's the kid in me, but the explosions being farts with poop particles is really funny Fun to Play: Game was incredibly punishing, any interaction with an enemy (especially flying enemies) met with being hit at least once so I was barely able to get 100ft into any particular map before dying. I wonder how big the maps are or how far I actually got. I also didn't get to experience what Attack 2 was, so I have to assume you had to unlock it on each map? Accessibility: First off I want to say that having pictures on the main page of the game with a diagram of the control layout for both controller and keyboard is fantastic, I love this! The UI was really confusing all the way through and I think it's important to break each part down: Gameplay - There is no way, without getting into the game, to know what 'Silent Butt Deadly' is as a setting. It's a funny name but it's important to also be clear to the user what a setting is when you give them the option to turn it on/off. In hindsight, I feel like this should go under the Audio tab of the UI. Audio - See Audio and Visual section. Video - Window Mode (when I opened the game for the first time) was set to fullscreen (which does nothing when we are playing in the browser). In order to enable fullscreen, I had to switch to windowed mode, then back to fullscreen. It just isn't clear what that setting is by default. Colour Blind, as a setting, did nothing. Not when done from the title menu or in the game. I'm genuinely curious what a toggle for color blind would do in this game? There are 8+ variations of color blind, and people can be a mix of multiple of them, so I would have liked to see that feature work just to see what it would have done to the game. For a feature like this, if it is known that the feature doesn't function in the game, I would recommend either disable it (but leave it visible) so that the intention is known that "we wanted to do this, but for *a* reason it doesn't exist", or remove it from the menu entirely. Controls - I was excited to see that this game had remappable keys, but they were cumbersome to figure out and I actually just kind of lucked into it. In order to remap an action you have to select it (so it has the dark grey outline), press Enter, then choose your new key to remap the action to. However, pressing Enter doesn't change the UI at all to indicate that you are now selecting a new key to use, which makes it look unresponsive. There is a new window that pops up to confirm your new keybind and I feel that this window would serve well as the indicator that you are attempting to set that action to a new key. I also loved that the game knew that you were trying to overwrite a keypress that already exists for another action. 10/10 there! Originality: The idea of a platformer where jumping and air dashing is done by an overweight guy with a red face farting so hard he propels himself forward is both silly and terrifying, I hope he is ok :( Audio and Visual: The very first thing you get when you open the game is a 50 second series of splash screens showcasing each member of the team overlaid with a maracca and what I think were finger tapping on a table, which was pretty loud. After that, you immediately switch to like an electronic song balanced at about half the volume. If I wanted to skip the intro, I can hit escape but when I do it just moves forward one splash screen to the next member of the team. This means I have to hit escape seven times to get from the first logo to the title menu. For the soundtrack of the Beanstalk area, the music sits comfortably in the background like the other maps until you get to the end of the 13-second loop where you get the sound of someone slamming a maracca directly next to the microphone. It is incredibly jarring and is another example of audio not being properly balanced. I love that you have audio sliders, but those are only helpful if the game's audio is balanced with each other. It's like how action scenes in a movie are always louder than the dialogue scenes, which make us do dances with our remote control/speakers to be able to comfortably watch. Artwork and animations were fantastic and incredibly expressive! Edit: After playing through the game on Invincible mode and unlocking more abilities, I realized that each effect in the game has a sound tied to it (nice), but every time you use that ability it plays the exact same sound effect at the same pitch. This can get pretty tiring quickly, and I doubt you want someone to just turn the sfx off after 10 minutes of playing. I recommend every time you play a sound effect, modify the pitch randomly a little but up or down so your players don't get audio fatigue.
• The mechanics for this one were really difficult, and some of the hit boxes probably need to be adjusted to be less punishing or more accurate -- maybe both. The aerial enemies were especially rage inducing. With some more refining on the hit box and movement, I could see this being appealing to someone who really enjoyed precision platformers. I did really like the movement animation of the player character - the way his arms moved especially. It was unique but memorable. For a flatulence-challenged dude, he had some swagger. There was a weird graphic issue when launching the game and going to the settings or any other window before starting. The screen duplicated and froze - I had to restart a couple times for this reason. The background music was charming, but there was one instrument (a percussive shaker or something) that was a lot louder than the rest and startled me several times. I did find myself scratching my head as to why beans and farts were a part of the game. (Was it just to fit the jam theme?) Other than the sound effects and level fail, I didn't see any mechanics that immediately made it seem like that aspect mattered. When I first launched the game, I was expecting to have a ranged or AoE attack with the farts, or something similar. Just seemed a little odd to just have a regular punch attack given the title. (Maybe there were additional attacks or powerups to unlock for players that got further than I did.) +1 accessibility for colorblind, control remapping, and difficulty options, though I didn't see the "I need help" option until after I had finished playing.