Game is interesting and is entertaining for a bit. Art is very nice, and I do quite enjoy the progression of the characters. The idea is simple and easy to understand, at least if you read through this post and figure out the base mechanics of the game (The whole concept of feeding the player character faster giving more points, which I did read about before playing). If you plan to continue working on this game, it might be good to add a little note somewhere in the main screen or as a side screen, as most just eager to see some games with tubby people might not recognize your intention and become a little confused. Maybe something simple like “The faster you feed your character, the more points you get!” placed at the top of the menu could help send people in the right direction.
I will say I was a little surprised when I realized the size difference between each weight level wasn’t that drastic. It was nice seeing the progression when looking at the individual files in Github, but it’s harder to catch the changes when playing a game that requires fast reaction for better rewards and also encourages looking in the center of the screen as opposed to looking at the characters as they gain. Of course that’s totally alright as it makes total sense for the food to be the focus of the game, but it might be good to assist players in catching the gain amidst the action. While these might not be all the solutions or the best ones, some ideas might be:
- Adding sound effects unique from the others (If there are any, I mostly played this game silent, so my memory is not too good on that). Perhaps it could be something as simple as swallowing or some kind of crunch. Clothes stretching or chair creaking might also be good ones, but those might be more likely to happen at even higher weights.
- Use the food as an indicator of transition as it’s flung into their face. Make the food grow in size as it’s being tossed, have it change color (such as a yellow-gold or something else), or just make it sparkle.
- Just have the character flip between images for a second or two before fully switching to the next sprite (I guess kinda like when Pokemon evolve, but, maybe a little faster).
I suppose maybe a way to make it appear more like a competition, perhaps instead of feeding both their favorite foods, you could toss the opponent weight loss pills, or vegetables, or something. Instead of her gaining when you feed her, she naturally gains at a consistent weight, but when you throw the undesirables in her face she actually loses weight. This could also consequence you, as if you mess up and feed yourself with these weight loss machines, you would also suffer the same effect, adding a risk to guessing wrong. This would also stop any easy means to achieve the highest weight stage while disregarding the score, which I did, where I just mashed the key in my characters direction. While that obviously results in a bit of a loss, you want people to earn being able to see that sweet, sweet chub, right?
Anyways, fun game, pretty solidly made, and overall good art! It could use some fleshing out, if you continue to work on it, if not, it’s a good first project to show the community, and I can’t wait to see what else you might come up with!
P.S. If you continue working on this, definitely ready to see some more weight stages
P.S.S. Also just a note, but I noticed that Leaf’s final stage looks a bit smaller than Horie’s, just thought I’d point that out
