Hello =) I love tidying up in real life, so I thought I'd give your game a try.
Here is what I enjoyed about the game:
It was satisfying to click the objects and clean them up. I wasn't sure if it would keep my interest, but having the time limit made the game more interesting and I wanted to keep retrying to clear all the levels. I felt like the difficulty was nicely balanced and after several tries, I beat the final level with .005 seconds left!
Here are a few small bugs I found with the game:
- UI response time is slow when you start the game. If the scene needs to load when you click Start, then I would like the UI to have an instant change to some loading indicator. It feels uncomfortable to click a button and then nothing happens for a moment.
- Seems to be a bug when you pause, look at settings, and then resume the game. I wasn't able to click on anything again until I paused and clicked resume again.
- I couldn't seem to find any "incorrect" items on levels 3 and 4.
Here are some changes I think would improve the game:
- A clear visual indicator/attention grabber that clicking a wrong item reduces your time. This could either be a "-10 s" text that appears where you clicked, or a similar text that pops up over the timer. It took several losses before I realized that incorrect guesses were harmful, and at first I just thought I had a limited number of wrong guesses per level.
- I think the timer should be much bigger. I didn't see it for the first few runs, and I didn't understand why I lost. A visual update when time is almost out (maybe 10 seconds left) would also help draw the player's attention to the timer. (Maybe the text getting bigger, changing color, or animating as each second ticks down). You could also add a sound effect like a ticking clock when time is almost out.
- I'd like the controls to be displayed anywhere in the game itself. I got stuck on level 3 and then went to the itch page to see if it said anywhere that the game was unfinished, and that's when I saw the controls for the camera for the first time (which allowed me to clear the level).
- The logic on what items do and don't give you a time penalty seems a little inconsistent/hard to figure out. I would consider either making EVERY misclick a penalty (and making the penalty smaller, like 5 seconds, or alternatively having something like a limit of 5 misclicks per room before game over) or removing the penalty all together.
- I would limit the camera rotation so that players can only rotate as far as they need, not 360 degrees.
- Some work could be done to improve the visual style and appeal of the game. Maybe better use of shaders and a more harmonious color palette to start. The game's visuals are a bit harsh and amateur-looking.
I think there is definitely potential in this game! Here's how I would expand it a bit:
- Keep building scenes and create multiple stages like the one you have now where a stage is made up of 5 consecutive scenes that share a timer. Completing one stage would unlock the next stage. Stages could have different themes where all the rooms in that stage are part of that theme.
- Perhaps add a way to earn a small time bonus. For example, clicking 5 items in under 2 seconds could add 10 seconds to the timer.
- Lean more into the "hidden object" nature of the game. For example, in the first level, the little blue container up high against the blue wall -- that was always the last one I clicked because I always overlooked it. Having items that are a little trickier because they blend in by they sharing a color, shape, or tangent line with the background or other objects gives the player a fun "a-ha" moment (as long as they feel fair and they don't just become pixel hunting). These could be more prevalent on harder levels.
- Along those same lines, you could add a left/right pan control to the camera which would let players see a little bit behind things like table legs, which gives more tricky places to hide things.
- Increase the charm factor of the rooms. Right now, they are very plain and generic. If each room had more of a personality, players would look forward to seeing the next room and discovering all the objects. For example, instead of just a plain bedroom, you could have the bedroom of a teenage girl who is obsessed with a specific boy band. You could then invent the band, make fake posters, and put clutter around the room that would make sense in a teenager's room. Or maybe the study of a Sherlock Holmes-style detective with bits of evidence and investigative tools laying around. Each room is an opportunity to tell a little story. (I recognize this is a lot more work creating content though!)
Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work! =)
If you're interested and available, I'd love to hear your feedback on my submission as well. Thanks!