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While I Wasn't Looking's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Originality & Innovation | #8 | 3.684 | 3.684 |
| Fun & Game Design | #26 | 3.237 | 3.237 |
| Theme | #45 | 3.184 | 3.184 |
| Audio | #65 | 2.421 | 2.421 |
| Visual Style | #91 | 2.079 | 2.079 |
Ranked from 38 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
This game is all about friendship and connection: Your “pals” are the bright lights you must guide together through puzzles. Each time you blink and switch characters, you rely on the others to navigate changing spaces. It’s not just about solving puzzles; it’s about pals depending on each other, I tried to weave the mechanics, the level design, and how you interact with the game.
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 4 days?
Yes
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Comments
i managed to rate this game before the voting period ended and am writing this comment based on memory. i tried this one on my phone which was pretty tricky because i was in bed with the lights dim so the game had a hard time detecting my face. this is partly on me and once i started playing with the lights on it was a much more smooth experience but perhaps if you were to do face tracking for a game again, maybe the game should be done in light mode to help put more light on the player's face....
so my experience with a lot of the game was pretty rough but i did try to make it through without the magic wand as much as i could. i do feel like.... the blinking mechanic could have worked better, but i see where you were going with it. i feel like to achieve more of a freaky friday, glimpse into the pov of a pal feel, maybe you shouldn't be able to see the other circles at all until you blink and switch into one of them. i feel like that could make for a more immersive blink mechanism and even lend itself well to its own puzzles. but yea idk that might be too tricky. i thought the puzzles as is were interesting but kinda stressful having to blink as they were all moving.
a small thing that could've improved this one would've been naming the other circles after connor's friends, or something more personable because the other names felt kinda random and forgettable, and i think you want the player to feel more connected to them. also the sound design which i'd only realized existed halfway through as my phone was kinda on mute, the dying sfx is kinda too human and since what the player is seeing are circles, i think it'd more fitting to have a more beepboop kinda sound to it.
That was tight, especially for 3 days.
Big thumbs up for having both a camera thingy AND an option not to use it)
10-12 hours and thanks for indirectly collaborating on the project by reverse engineering everything, that... that was nice!
As a fellow engineless dev I approve, in here I did feel like blinking did not add too much value.
Puzzle design has some fun ones- but I'd like to have seen less combo locks or timegates and more of the clever ones like the multiblink switches.
The source code made me go a bit "oh" though. Fix it before it your engine is in a bigger state.
I played live & you were in VC at the time so I wont go indepth in my comment as it'd be the same general feedback- but here's the VOD incase you want to rewatch. Including the requested flaming of the codebase XD.
mad lad made his own engine, insane
well done!
This is so unique! I have never seen a game like this that is controlled with the users camera. How did you even think of this? The puzzles are also really well designed. Good job- no, GREAT job!
Wow, thank you so much! That really means a lot. The camera idea came from wanting to do something totally different and interactive. I’ve always been fascinated by how we can use everyday tech in unexpected ways, and the camera seemed like a cool way to let the player be part of the puzzle itself, rather than just controlling it from the outside.
I'm so glad the puzzles landed for you too! I had a blast designing them, and honestly, this whole project was a mix of experimentation and just trying to see what works in such a short amount of time.
Thanks again for the kind words ...really made my day! (´◡`)
Nice puzzles!
The voice lines kinda freaked me out a bit the first time I hear it tbh lol.
The puzzles are cool and the tech you did were also good, but I honestly think the blinking mechanic made me feel like it detracts from the core puzzles more than it adds to it, unlike your last game Ocuclohedron, where it was more central to the idea.
Thanks for the feedback! I totally get what you mean about the voice line, they definitely went a bit overboard BUT HONESTLY THEY WERE ONE OF THE BEST THINGS IN THIS JAM!
The jam format really pushed me to experiment with the Blinking mechanic. I was inspired by the "Pals" theme and came up with the idea of switching perspectives, like a Freaky Friday situation, and tried to explore Blinking as an environmental trigger versus just an input. It was a bit of a risk, but I wanted to see how far I could take it and how it could work in different ways.
I'm glad to hear the core idea came through, even if the mechanics didn’t hit as smoothly as I hoped.
hey those puzzles are pretty cool! also the music started muted but i unmuted it and then it was really nice. a shame i didnt have a camera to try the blinking..
Ah, yeah, that was a bug! I didn’t want to hit players with blaring music, but I ran out of time to implement a volume control, so it was a dirty way of starting the game and letting players themselves switch on or off the main music.
Thanks for pointing that out, it's a great lesson for next time. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future jams!
Good puzzles and the concept felt pretty original whilst being on theme! Nice one!
Thanks so much! I'm really glad the puzzles and concept stood out to you.
Fun puzzles, good job! It's not always clear if your player is gonna move by itself when you switch to a pal but other than that it was nice.
Glad you enjoyed the puzzles. You're right about the movement switch, it's something I'll definitely work on making clearer in future updates. Appreciate you pointing that out!
The puzzles are great!I liked playing all the levels
I'm really glad you enjoyed all the levels. It was a lot of fun putting them together!
No camera but the game was still fun :D very cool puzzles!
Thanks! I'm so glad you had fun with the puzzles, even without the camera. I really appreciate you playing through it!
I have no camera! Still enjoyed the game, very good level design!
Appreciate the shoutout to the level design!
I may not have a camera attached, but I feel the tech.
Thanks for giving it a try!
Cool puzzles and good voice acting, I don't have a camera xd. But pretty original idea, good game I had fun
Fair enough haha, thanks a ton for trying it out!
Without a camera, it's a pretty basic puzzle game. I still feel like the puzzles are well done, so I gave you a good design score.
Fair point! No camera can make it feel more basic, but I'm glad the puzzles still hit the mark.
Ngl, from a technical standpoint, this is probably one of the most impressive things I've ever seen done in this type of time period. Insanely well done!
Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me <33
Really cool concept and great execution!
Thanks a bunch! So happy the concept and execution landed well with you!
Crazy idea! Pretty awesome and the blinking detection works so well!
Thank you so much! I hope the build worked alright, I was so nervous of making my own rendering routine...