The Sense Point

I have an iPhoneX and it appears that the scene does not fit entirely in the iPhone X display. The bottom of the game's scene is below (outside) the display. I found out totally by chance, as I got stuck in the game and had to use the hints, and one hint directed me to locate a hole in the ground at the bottom part of the screen..... Which was clearly, according to the hints drawings, outside (below bottom edge) of the display. If the developer contacts me I can send a screen-shot. Needless to say, I cannot move forward in the game because I cannot visit that hole in the ground... And that's about it. This wraps up my experience with the game. Too bad. Nevertheless, the 2 stars are for the effort, the nice artwork and good atmosphere of the game Updated : Thank you for contacting me. I've sent screen shots of the actual display in iPhone X, together with the clue that directs to an un-reachable hole in the ground. Updated: Thanks for clarifying the hint with "the hole in the ground". Now I see I was focusing on the wrong thing. I also did not manage to understand that the map (top view) can move and I kept tapping it instead of dragging sideways... It would be nice if you drew small arrows that show it can move... Thank you for the useful response. I'm continuing with the game... :-) Changed the rating to 4 stars Cheers

The claymation and animation and sound are fantastic and are absolutely the main selling points of this game. It stands out and is visually appealing as well. The gameplay design needs more time, and as it is, will push this game too far into a niche corner. 1. The menu needs to be outlined for the general audience. Meaning, there needs to be a point at which the game tells you, “and this menu button opens this.” I’m very comfortable with menus in games so I was able to feel my way around because I am familiar with those concepts, the vast majority of people are not super familiar with these things. 2. The game starts out way too difficult. There are hidden difficulties when making a puzzle game, one being visual indication of interactive objects. Game design has come leaps and bounds since the old LucasArt days. While those games are very nostalgic, there has been a lot discovered and improved upon. One namely being intuitive mechanics. The tiny little hole in the very first area that is suppose to turn on the door panel, but you only get an indication if you’re using your robot? Yeah, that’s not appropriate for the first puzzle when people don’t know what to expect from the game. There has to be build up to something like that, and you have to set the tone for the game first. Often, modern games will have a tutorial npc that tells you a couple things of what to expect, so that moving forward you are prepared to scan the environment in such a way.This game has great design, you have a chance to not be buried under the millions of apps. The game isn’t doing as good as it should, but it’s not because it’s a niche game. It’s because there are some design flaws that make the game too inaccessible for brand new players. Think about kids who might play. You don’t need to dumb the game down to make it better, just some design changes to the mechanics.

Of course this is a takeoff of Neverhood. If you know that game, you will understand how to play this game. With regards to the other reviews of this, and people not knowing how to play it, or feeling that the game movement is too slow, that’s on them, not on this game. The movement is supposed to be slow and the puzzles are supposed to feel non intuitive. Although, in reality, the puzzles have a clear pattern and cohesiveness, just like the Neverhood puzzles. Since those ‘geniuses’ at DreamWorks never released a version of the Neverhood for mobile phones or current computers, and most of you don’t have a Pentium 2 laying around to play the original game, this is about as close as a game gets. I would pay $50 to play Neverhood again (are you listening Dreamworks?). And, that is why, at five dollars, this game satisfies a bit of that need. I don’t know the developer here, but this had the feel of something that was almost lovingly created as an homage of sorts. Yes, I used the word homage non ironically. I will say, as a negative, that this game is not finished yet. One of the two listings in the app shop does say chapter 1, but no reviews, or anywhere in the description of this game by the developer mentions that this game is incomplete. My son and I played 2-3 hours total before we could not go any farther because it is not finished. While five dollars is a lot of money for some people, for a few hours of playing a thought provoking game with my son, it’s fine for me. Just understand, this is not a finished game. I do give props to the developer for this game because, like I said, it is the closest to the Neverhood I have found so far. It would be nice to get information about an estimated timeline for the rest of it.