Great question! To solve the dialogue problem, I think you just need to assign some form of "emotional context" or "level" to the characters, as well as the overall scene. Then conversation options can be removed (or responses changed) based on that. You could even record multiple responses for the same question that are tagged with different "contexts" and play whichever one is appropriate to the scene. Essentially the game needs to have some sort of dynamic system for holding onto the emotional through-line that changes based on player input. For the puzzle design, I think a lot of the overall structure of the puzzles needs to change. They're so simple that you stumble onto the solutions by chance, but too arbitrary to actually figure out. Essentially they need to make them more intuitive, more complex, but also more forgiving. If they wanted to keep the solution path they currently have, then they need some sort of system that allows the players to rapidly try new ideas, instead of slogging through. The fast-forward built in is alright, but I'm thinking the player should have access to some sort of system (the UI I'm picturing is a little clock or pocket watch in the corner of the screen) and as you complete puzzles to get to different states, you can time travel back to those particular states from that menu. You'd have to flavor it carefully to avoid making the player feel like they have complete control over the time-loop (the options would need to be "drug your wife" or "electrocute the cop" to imply that you're actually taking the action again) - but something that can ease the monotony. For the story, I think that the details need to be broken up even more granularly, and readily accessible to player actions. Have a photo album with /too many/ pictures of the father with the nanny - have a picture with a face scribble out and "MONSTER" is written across the top, have a laptop history where you can see that your wife tried to sell the pocket watch, etc etc. The player should feel like /they/ figured it out. Additionally, I'd love for there to be elements of "you're living in a fantasy" throughout the gameplay loop, to really help sell the overall theme. Certain cosmetic items could move or even disappear entirely through loops, the wife could have a voiceline where she responds with something like "wake up" in the middle of the sentence where it should have been. Just small details to sell the overall narrative. Overall, I think there's quite a lot that could be added to the game to resolve some of these bigger problems, systems-wise.
@@InboundShovel I feel like the pocket watch could be the key to a lot of that. Now, I've not played the game, but based on your review it seems the watch is, or could be, found fairly early. So maybe the watch could be a way to turn back turn in certain increments in order to try different solutions. Maybe you're only to go a certain number of times before you have to complete another time loop, or something like that, to keep people from cheesing it too much?
@@brotherdaniel1524 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. You get a certain amount of uses per loop before it "breaks", which lets people make multiple attempts at whatever they're trying to do in a single run, but doesn't completely ruin the feeling of being stuck in the time loop.
haven't realized that u had 1700 subscriber until u asked for a like at the end. I don't even knew the game but i felt lost in the beautiness of how good this critique actually is. If u didn't told me in the video, i would've guessed that you had 300.000 sub, dead serius right there. keep it up, that's some good sh**.
It’s crap. It doesn’t work. I’ve tried dragging handcuffs to the unconscious cop like 10x, and he just says “he’s just passed out” and then he gets up. 😑 Then having the menu at the top, my iPhone constantly thinks I’m pulling down my iPhone menu, and it constantly messes me up and kills the game.
![Coheed and Cambria - Searching for Tomorrow [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hDsYGLbmadg/mqdefault.jpg)
As a game designer, bro, what would you do to improve this?
ohhh I wanna know too!
Great question!
To solve the dialogue problem, I think you just need to assign some form of "emotional context" or "level" to the characters, as well as the overall scene. Then conversation options can be removed (or responses changed) based on that. You could even record multiple responses for the same question that are tagged with different "contexts" and play whichever one is appropriate to the scene. Essentially the game needs to have some sort of dynamic system for holding onto the emotional through-line that changes based on player input.
For the puzzle design, I think a lot of the overall structure of the puzzles needs to change. They're so simple that you stumble onto the solutions by chance, but too arbitrary to actually figure out. Essentially they need to make them more intuitive, more complex, but also more forgiving. If they wanted to keep the solution path they currently have, then they need some sort of system that allows the players to rapidly try new ideas, instead of slogging through. The fast-forward built in is alright, but I'm thinking the player should have access to some sort of system (the UI I'm picturing is a little clock or pocket watch in the corner of the screen) and as you complete puzzles to get to different states, you can time travel back to those particular states from that menu. You'd have to flavor it carefully to avoid making the player feel like they have complete control over the time-loop (the options would need to be "drug your wife" or "electrocute the cop" to imply that you're actually taking the action again) - but something that can ease the monotony.
For the story, I think that the details need to be broken up even more granularly, and readily accessible to player actions. Have a photo album with /too many/ pictures of the father with the nanny - have a picture with a face scribble out and "MONSTER" is written across the top, have a laptop history where you can see that your wife tried to sell the pocket watch, etc etc. The player should feel like /they/ figured it out. Additionally, I'd love for there to be elements of "you're living in a fantasy" throughout the gameplay loop, to really help sell the overall theme. Certain cosmetic items could move or even disappear entirely through loops, the wife could have a voiceline where she responds with something like "wake up" in the middle of the sentence where it should have been. Just small details to sell the overall narrative.
Overall, I think there's quite a lot that could be added to the game to resolve some of these bigger problems, systems-wise.
@@InboundShovel I feel like the pocket watch could be the key to a lot of that.
Now, I've not played the game, but based on your review it seems the watch is, or could be, found fairly early. So maybe the watch could be a way to turn back turn in certain increments in order to try different solutions. Maybe you're only to go a certain number of times before you have to complete another time loop, or something like that, to keep people from cheesing it too much?
@@brotherdaniel1524 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. You get a certain amount of uses per loop before it "breaks", which lets people make multiple attempts at whatever they're trying to do in a single run, but doesn't completely ruin the feeling of being stuck in the time loop.
@@InboundShovel Maybe something for a future game idea ^_^
Babe?
Babe?
Babe?
Babe?
Babe?
Babe?
Sir?
Same feeling here, I respect the devs for taking risks but It felt like a missed opportunity.
I was your 1k sub, just wanted to say keep it up bud!
Thank you so much!!
Game also doesn't seem like my kind of game, and the points you make I can definitely agree with.
It's definitely unique and interesting, but for sure not for everyone.
@@InboundShovel I can see how it would be a good game though, for sure!
haven't realized that u had 1700 subscriber until u asked for a like at the end. I don't even knew the game but i felt lost in the beautiness of how good this critique actually is. If u didn't told me in the video, i would've guessed that you had 300.000 sub, dead serius right there. keep it up, that's some good sh**.
I agree with you
Thanks!
I can’t move my character on iOS. Is this just a me problem?
It’s crap. It doesn’t work. I’ve tried dragging handcuffs to the unconscious cop like 10x, and he just says “he’s just passed out” and then he gets up. 😑 Then having the menu at the top, my iPhone constantly thinks I’m pulling down my iPhone menu, and it constantly messes me up and kills the game.
So many things wrong with this game, so many stupid things happen for no reason and it won awards for writing lmfao it’s laughable