Quite a charming little experience! "Puzzle-Platformer Murder Mystery" intrigued me at first... what the heck could that be; could a game truly be all at once? Well, that's what I just played! The game knows just how seriously to take itself for a small project, and though some moments were a bit silly (what is a "capyracle" anyways?), I still enjoyed it more than I should have. I love the simple story, cute graphics and song, and overall the platforming was compelling.
In terms of feedback, I'd say there is one theme of improvement I'd recommend. First would be to use more visual or audio indicators to explain how the game works. Small stuff like having a visual change to checkpoints when you select them or indicating what kills you a bit better could go a long way to help players out. Another example would be the first instance of enemies. I spent 10 minutes trying to kill them so that I could move pass them, when the real answer was to ignore them, just because the sight of patrolling enemies usually suggests that I can exploit their patterns and get past them, even though to my knowledge, that is not possible. Maybe thinking "how would a new player whose never played this before see/interpret this?" It's super difficult but super important as game designers to try to put ourselves in someone else's shoes who doesn't know the code inside out, but it's very rewarding too (play testing is good for this).
Overall, fun experience, and I hope you keep making games :)
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Quite a charming little experience! "Puzzle-Platformer Murder Mystery" intrigued me at first... what the heck could that be; could a game truly be all at once? Well, that's what I just played! The game knows just how seriously to take itself for a small project, and though some moments were a bit silly (what is a "capyracle" anyways?), I still enjoyed it more than I should have. I love the simple story, cute graphics and song, and overall the platforming was compelling.
In terms of feedback, I'd say there is one theme of improvement I'd recommend. First would be to use more visual or audio indicators to explain how the game works. Small stuff like having a visual change to checkpoints when you select them or indicating what kills you a bit better could go a long way to help players out. Another example would be the first instance of enemies. I spent 10 minutes trying to kill them so that I could move pass them, when the real answer was to ignore them, just because the sight of patrolling enemies usually suggests that I can exploit their patterns and get past them, even though to my knowledge, that is not possible. Maybe thinking "how would a new player whose never played this before see/interpret this?" It's super difficult but super important as game designers to try to put ourselves in someone else's shoes who doesn't know the code inside out, but it's very rewarding too (play testing is good for this).
Overall, fun experience, and I hope you keep making games :)