The way the game is sizing on my screen, it seems like it's requiring a 16:9 or wider display. My 4:3 display is getting the horizontal scrollbar treatment. There's no real reason everything couldn't fit on the 4:3 screen, though. Seems like a minor design oversight to me.
Understood that this is pre-alpha. Good concepts here. Keep refining!
Starting over from scratch is the only option if you didn't manually save? That's a bit harsh. Where's the auto-save feature? It would make the difference between me playing your game a while longer, versus walking away right now, rather than start over. Just sayin'.
I agree with those who have said this is more of a hidden object or pixel hunting game, rather than a member of the escape genre. You need to make it more obvious that there are alternate zones of focus. For example, why can we look under the sofa only in that one exact spot? Clicking anywhere along the bottom border of the sofa should rightfully take us to the "under the sofa" view, or else you are being a bit cruel. It isn't clever to deliberately thwart the player who is actually thinking the thought you intended him to think, just because he clicked on a pixel under the sofa that wasn't the pixel YOU had in mind. This whole game was rather pompous in that regard. The puzzles aren't clever or thought-provoking, they're merely frustrating to guess at the location you had in mind.
Really enjoyed it. Would have preferred a system of advancing the dialog by clicking anywhere, as it got a bit tedious to have to go back and forth between the dialog choices in the center of the screen, and the arrow in the lower right every time anyone said anything. Alternatively, make a shortcut key to advance dialog, like Enter. Minor nuisance in an excellent prologue. A pity your team disbanded. Best of luck.
Great dialog between the characters. It's a fine example of the point-and-click menu-driven comical zombie detective genre. The game ends before the interface gets too tedious. Good balance of length and we appreciate the convenience features that you added in the double-clicking to move quickly. Well done.
I appreciate the concept, but this implementation is repetitive. There isn't really much variety or depth, not even with the upgrades. Perhaps it was an engaging RNG exercise on the back end, but the user experience isn't very rewarding. Nice starting point for something deeper, maybe.
The research description states that it increases the mine's output for every click made. The upgrade's description states it only happens every critical click. You need to make your descriptions accurate and internally consistent.
Here's where this game goes right: You broke it down into manageable sprints that could conceivably be played in a single session, rather than a never-ending slog. Great job implementing this concept. Also, it gets us away from CTS or the auto-click software. While I feel some of your documentation could be clearer, I appreciate the departure from the norm I see in this game.
It doesn't seem like some of these upgrades could ever recover their research cost during the duration of a normal game. Like, Sluice boxes +1 gold for every 8 owned? At a research cost of 15.5 million? Is it +1 gold *per sluice box*? Or just a flat +1 gold total? It matters quite a bit as to whether it's worth it. You're not giving us enough clear information to decide whether these upgrades are worthwhile. Recurring theme in my comments, really.
I can't imagine why you would ever want to sell a structure you've built, and yet there's not even a confirmation dialog box if you click it. Why even have a "Sell" button? Anyone who clicks it just ends up pissed off about it. Seems like a rather rotten and useless element to the game.
Why doesn't mousing over the "Perfect touch" icon clearly explain what it does? This is what I'm talking about. Every in-game element should be clearly explained, in-game. Not just for a fleeting moment at the start of the buff effect, but, it should be clickable or mouse-overable for its entire duration.
The upgrades don't always state what they do. "Unlocks Pick". Okay, so, I assume that's somehow an upgrade, but... what does the pick do? Why should I select that as opposed to jumping to researching "Better Sluicing" which actually states what it does? As a developer of an upgrades-based game, you shouldn't expect players to spend time clicking around making choices on blind faith. Make things clear up front. It makes for a better player experience.
Thanks a lot, Manwithabook! Glad you enjoyed it!