Team 7

+: probably the story and visuals, if they are good.

-: I don't know what you mean by "Cool puzzle mechanics". Could be cool though.

1 change: Less unimportant text. Maybe it's a me-problem, but I don't want to read things unrelated to the puzzles. (I think in texts a good (not equal) balancing of character, story and Clues is important.) or convey more through other sorts of story telling (e.g. visual)

+ I really like the idea of giving the players a choice at the end. Branching games are always fun but they are unachievable with this time constraint but I think giving players the choice at the end is the perfect compromise for that. And unrelated to the game, the slides look really good.

-I think from the description the idea is a bit vague but I think it’s just because you haven’t finalized it yet and because you haven’t mentioned what the twist is but I am looking forward to discovering it and I think the game has great potential if the story is good.

1 change: I think the game has great potential but it depends a lot on the story in my opinion, so I would focus on finding an interesting twist and then I think the game can turn out really well.

I was unable to attend the presentations, so these opinions are based solely on the slides. Please excuse me if something I wrote is wrong or misunderstood:

1. The dilemma of sacrificing ourselves to save humanity.

2. My least favourite aspect is the reliance on "CRYPTIC NOTES AND LOGS FROM 'YOURSELF'" to deliver hints and progress the story. It can become tedious if notes are overused to convey the story. 

3. I would suggest improving the time travel aspect of the game. Simply adding notes from future/past self doesn't quite capture the theme. Making time travel an active mechanic is the way to go. 

1. What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game?
   I really like the idea for the story, especially given the question to sacrifice oneself or humanity. I like games were the player start with no clue of anything and start finding out more and more things about what is going on. 
2. What is your least favorite aspect?Solving too cryptic riddles might get annoying, if there are not enough hints. 
3. When looking for a game name or in general designing the game, do not give away to much for the player, so the player should be given a chance to solve the riddle and get some aha-moments during the game.

+ I love the idea of a mysterious person handing out notes. If done correctly, it can be really entertaining for the player to understand the story when it is confusing or convulated.

- I dislike the 2d aspect because 3d is way more immersive when telling a story upfront and exploring places. 

I think it would be cool for the player to have visions of the future and what it could look like. Maybe the person writing the notes is trying to lure the player into the bad ending, but if the player is smart enough they can still choose the correct ending.

+ I like story-driven games, so if the story is well-developed, has good pacing, it will be very entertaining to play

-confuzing puzzles without interesting game mechanics/story to accompany it could be boring. However, once the gameplay ideas are finalized, it would be interesting to see what the puzzles will look like.

1 change:Focusing on a good story and visuals will take a lot of time, so i'd make sure to leave enough time for interesting puzzles. Maybe even adding a voiceover instead of simply reading through the whole game could make it more immersive. So the character would kind of talk to themselves. I'd follow the 3 act principle when coping up with story and pacing. 

Favorite Aspect

In most time travel scenarios, the character usually interacts directly with their future self, so having the communication happen through logs and notes instead is a really nice idea.

Least favorite aspect

I’m not sure whether 2D can reflect the game’s atmosphere well.

Suggested improvement

Decoding the cryptic notes shouldn’t be too difficult, as this could reduce the player’s engagement and motivation.

• I like that you prioritize visuals, especially the steampunk style you have shown in the slides that fits the game theme
• I would try to keep the amount of text the player has to read in notes and logs low enough so the player doesn't get bored from it

+ definitely keep:
The twist you introduced at the end is the perfect reason to get excited about this project early on. Additionally, if managed, the styles of the games you are inspired by are really appealing. Definitely go for that vibe for the game’s ambiance.

- least favorite aspect and the suggestion combined:
It can be rough to reflect the intended feeling to the player with the 2D design choice. If you want to continue with this design, you will most certainly need some variety in puzzles and a map that is neither small nor big at the same time to keep the player engaged (not a suggestion, but a concern). On the other hand, a Don’t Starve Together-style 2.5D might be a cool fit for this idea. Additionally, I think it might be cool to see that you are the one giving the clues to your past self to keep the timeline in order (this might be integrated as small and fun tasks you have to complete after solving the puzzles). 

I like a game with a cool atmosphere, and your game sounds like it will be one of those that value atmosphere. I would like to see if you can have music that matches the vibe. As for concerns I'd say I'm not sold on the gameplay and I hope the is still some room left for fun gameplay despite all the interesting story pieces.

I really like the idea of this game, and the idea of having a moral choice influencing the end of the game.

You said you didn't want to have branching choices before that, which is understandable, but I would still suggest building up to the final choice somehow, e.g. purely within the story through the logs and diary pages of your future self.

I would also suggest you focus a lot on the mechanics from now on - there's a lot of different kinds of platformer and puzzle games, so you need to figure out exactly what kind of experience you want your player to have, and having interesting mechanics is really important to any game anyways.

The game style and visuals seems like a good point to make the game stand out, specially if you have a committed artist to bring them to life. Contrary to some comments I think that a 2D would fit better, mainly because then the artistic aspect will play a more important role than when using random 3D assets mixed together. I think that you can get ton of inspiration from your sources. Seeing the Mr.Clockwork running between platforms and steam while moving some gear to activate some mechanism must be pleasant by itself. Maybe you can find some music that fits the style (1920s music, Charleston, etc) and some engine/steam sounds.

In the full proposal I would like to see how you want to handle puzzles (more environmental/traversal or literal puzzle boxes). But except for that I really like the idea and the concept, just beware that focusing heavily on the story can become gigantic timesink.

The setting is also really interesting, you can make a lot of diverse environments that can allow you different exploration mechanics, I look forward to see how you handle it!

The visuals are key to this idea. Steampunk is very funny.
However I don't understand how the time travel mechanics are translated to the player. It should not just feel like teleporting

Positives:
I really like the story. It fits the steampunk aesthetic very well. I like the notes as well. Story and narrative are a strong suit.

Negatives:
I can’t really see how you envision the puzzles to look. Especially variety and balancing difficulty with the notes giving hints and not solutions — that can be a huge time sink. I’d like to see how the refined puzzle idea looks.

Suggestions:
I feel like puzzles are easier to implement in 3D or 2.5D with less effort leading to equally good results. That’s if they are to go beyond, say, a jigsaw or tangram puzzle and involve interacting with the world. Maybe have a rethink about how those puzzles are going to play out.