JP
| Title | AMAZUL |
|---|---|
| Platform | PC |
| School | TOKYO DESIGN TECHNOLOGY CENTER |
| Winner's name | AMAZUL |
This game is rough, but as an action puzzle game, the balance between the player's thinking and solving puzzles through actions is great, and I enjoyed this game with just the right amount of tension.
The SE of the challenge was also interpreted as the sound of rain and the closer a player gets to the goal, the louder the sound becomes. It is a nice presentation that increased the player's expectation for the goal.
The worldview and character settings are intuitive, and the tutorials are well organized, so I felt it was easy to get into the game.
This game received an Honorable Mention award this time, but I think it could have won a higher ranking if it hadn't lost points due to the difference between the operative UI display and the actual commands in the environment where I tried the game or due to bugs such as not being able to select the menu after clearing the game. We awarded an honorable mention with a sense of hope for the future.
I hope the entrant would use this experience to create another great game.
The following is a summary of my advice I would have created the game in this way.
■ How to Use SE
Since the theme was SE, it could have been used to enhance the game quality.
For example, it is OK for a blunt beast to rush towards footsteps when it hears them, but the game would be more effective if:
- The detection range is reduced as the rainfall sound intensifies (because the footsteps are muffled)
- Footsteps cannot be detected in water because no sound is produced in water.
Then, by enhancing the game’s presentation in the water such as the lower volume of the background music and the stronger echo in water, plays associated with sounds can be further sublimed. In addition, I think the completion level of the game will be higher by creating the sound of rain hitting various objects one by one with a lot of care.
The game has a good point: The game, as an entertainment, allows a player to interactively intervene. It is the most important that a theme or a concept should be sublimed. If it is a novel idea, it is the most desirable.
■Visibility of the Goal
The setting of growing saplings as a worldview is good, but with regard to the display UI of an Amefurashi (Rainmaker) in the upper right corner of the screen, it seemed that activation of the Amefurashi is a goal, and the subsequent flow of accessing the saplings wasn't intuitive. If the UI color changes into yellow when the activated number of Amefurashi on the upper right corner reaches the maximum, I guess a player can get a sense of accomplishment and the change in the purpose is clearer.
Also, if no effect is added to saplings after activating all Amefurashis in 3D, I feel very sorry that the visibility is so low in a stage where saplings are hidden underwater. Or maybe the entrant could have made the world look like “Jack and the Beanstalk,” with the saplings growing according to the degree of progress and eventually by climbing trees, a player can clear stages and so on.
■ Worldview
There are a lot of problems, to be more specific. “An Amefurashi is a machine and is it OK to make it submerged in water?” “Is it okay for notes to appear underwater after activation?" But since the core of the game is a puzzle game where a player has to raise the water level and aim at a high position, it's important to add fiction lest a player should break that premise, and each one of those things combine to make a world. For example, if the entrant added an expression as if an activated Amefurashi is protected by air bubbles even when it's in the water, then the Amefurashi can replenish its oxygen supply along with it, I feel like this could be a great way to extend the originality of the game without ruining the game quality.
Also, since this game makes rain happen, the entrant could have created a more appealing worldview and presentation by adding characters such as frogs and snails associated with the rain, such as hydrangeas that bloom according to the progress, or rainbows that clear up after you clear the game.
■Continuity
Each stage is fun, but it does not have sufficient elements to make a player think “I'll keep going...” throughout the whole game.
The most obvious flow line is the story. I think it would be even better if we aim for an unstoppable feeling in playing a game by adding new elements such as growth and gimmick inflation.
■Detailed Expression
There is a lack of consistency from the inflation of the level design. Whereas the UI is created on the assumption of single digit processing, the number of Amefurashi is “10.” It's a small topic, but solving each problem like this is a good game refinement, too.
I also felt that if the oxygen gauge is displayed near the character only when it gets low, it will be easier for a player to be aware of it.
Nobumichi Kumabe, Koei Tecmo Games
In this game, the sound of the theme is “the sound of rain” and “the sound of heavy rain.”
A player operates a character to activate the “Amefurashi” in a stage.
He/she will make rain and adjust the water level in the stage to reach the goal by creating the nursery.
Rain in the stage raises the water level, and a player floats rafts and uses other gimmicks to cross a place where a path has been broken.
To reach a goal, all “Amefurashis” should be activated.
To finish a stage, a player should choose a good order to activate Amefurashi, which makes different amounts of rain fall, and where to store the water in the stage.
If he/she mistakes the order, a character will be submerged and the game is over due to lack of oxygen.
Sounds of the theme are imagined as “the sound of rain” and “the sound of a heavy downpour,” representing different types of rain depending on the type of "Amefurashi". There are also gimmicks such as stronger rainfall when the goal is nearer.
This is a puzzle game with a great idea and strategy.
