Lemma Review
Not Recommended
Cool game, cool concept, cool gameplay, but lacks polishment.
When it went well, I had a lot of fun.
But on multiple occasions, I didn’t know how to progress forward. I also experienced multiple invisible wall cases, which made these situations worse.
All dialog; tutorial, story, background story are text. For as small of a team this game was developed with that’s understandable, but a (good) dialog audio would make this magnitudes better.
With some additional polishment this could be a great game. As it is, I’m a bit split.
The developer did a great job, and even open-sourced the game on release, added a level editor etc. The gameplay also feels very solid and fun. But the game just needed that bit of additional polishment. Given the game was just release, hopefully this polishment will be done in the coming weeks/months, potentially making this an indie gem.
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I went into more detail in a forum post, so if you want to know about the specific issues I had:
Great potential, needs some polish, some bugs
This game has great potential, is a lot of fun, but I got a little bit frustrated with inconsistencies and getting stuck.
In the tutorial, the grabbing edges while in the air was explained too late. I already had to figure it out earlier, where I got stuck otherwise.
At one instance, I went for an area I supposedly was not supposed to. I jumped on stone, but fell right through it. The object does not have a collision box. This makes it very confusing, as I tried multiple times to reach it. In the end I had to turn around, and go another way upwards, which was not obvious enough though, as the other place seemed in reach and to continue as well.
In a later stage, with the laser-defense-thing, I actually went for the wall that would lower later on first. There is an invisible wall in the water to the left of it, no matter if the wall is lowered or not.
Following that, I took a very long time to get past that tree like structure, with an exit inside its top, facing where you enter that area. I did not see this before-hand, and so, climbed the pillars to the backside of it. I then tried to get onto it, which I managed to do, but controlling the character seemed untested/unwanted there. I also did not see/find the exit, as I simply climbed to the top, and then - confused - went back. I then tried to reach the outer ring area, and again hit invisible walls, where I would have otherwise reached the solid ground.
I eventually found the exit, but I believe there should have been clearer (visual) leads to the exit.
I understand why the game has no audio dialog, but (good) dialog would certainly make it a lot better.
I think the main menu also needs some more polish, as well as the challenge mode UI.
Thanks for the game, and especially for releasing source code and an editor!
I hope (some of) these issues can be fixed, so I can recommend this game to others without reservation.
When it went well, I had a lot of fun.
But on multiple occasions, I didn’t know how to progress forward. I also experienced multiple invisible wall cases, which made these situations worse.
All dialog; tutorial, story, background story are text. For as small of a team this game was developed with that’s understandable, but a (good) dialog audio would make this magnitudes better.
With some additional polishment this could be a great game. As it is, I’m a bit split.
The developer did a great job, and even open-sourced the game on release, added a level editor etc. The gameplay also feels very solid and fun. But the game just needed that bit of additional polishment. Given the game was just release, hopefully this polishment will be done in the coming weeks/months, potentially making this an indie gem.
------
I went into more detail in a forum post, so if you want to know about the specific issues I had:
Great potential, needs some polish, some bugs
This game has great potential, is a lot of fun, but I got a little bit frustrated with inconsistencies and getting stuck.
In the tutorial, the grabbing edges while in the air was explained too late. I already had to figure it out earlier, where I got stuck otherwise.
At one instance, I went for an area I supposedly was not supposed to. I jumped on stone, but fell right through it. The object does not have a collision box. This makes it very confusing, as I tried multiple times to reach it. In the end I had to turn around, and go another way upwards, which was not obvious enough though, as the other place seemed in reach and to continue as well.
In a later stage, with the laser-defense-thing, I actually went for the wall that would lower later on first. There is an invisible wall in the water to the left of it, no matter if the wall is lowered or not.
Following that, I took a very long time to get past that tree like structure, with an exit inside its top, facing where you enter that area. I did not see this before-hand, and so, climbed the pillars to the backside of it. I then tried to get onto it, which I managed to do, but controlling the character seemed untested/unwanted there. I also did not see/find the exit, as I simply climbed to the top, and then - confused - went back. I then tried to reach the outer ring area, and again hit invisible walls, where I would have otherwise reached the solid ground.
I eventually found the exit, but I believe there should have been clearer (visual) leads to the exit.
I understand why the game has no audio dialog, but (good) dialog would certainly make it a lot better.
I think the main menu also needs some more polish, as well as the challenge mode UI.
Thanks for the game, and especially for releasing source code and an editor!
I hope (some of) these issues can be fixed, so I can recommend this game to others without reservation.