App Profile: Roia

yo Ian G

Rating: 3/5

First I want to say that I love the idea and appreciate that something this nice is coming from a solo dev! Many of the ideas in here are lovely. I had originally wanted to rate higher but I am completely stuck in chapter 3 or so. I’ve read in comments that there are walkthroughs but the potential beauty of this game to me isn’t in completing it but making my way through and seeing all the sights. I am stuck at a place where it is unclear how to proceed. Some of the things I’m rubbing up against are clarity that is lost because of the visuals, the limitations of the interactions and their feedback, and the inability to rotate the view, forcing a very clumsy constructing at times. It also feels like where something like this could be really fluid, natural, and open ended instead im guessing the path the devs want me to take. Other things like resetting the current chapter seem to be missing obvious needs. Overall it feels like the game could greatly be served with a whole lot of user testing, feedback and smoothing of the rough edges, it feels like there is so much potential and such a lovely start!

Tibby the kitty

Rating: 3/5

Why is this random mobile app one of the hardest games I’ve ever played? The music tells me to relax, the game play shows the horrifying destruction of water. I can’t pass chapter 6 because I can’t figure out how to flow the water around the houses at all? Despite trying for over 2 hours, I can’t figure it out. Like being a hard game is fine, but maybe don’t make it so frustratingly hard it ruins the core message of your game, which is to relax. Lol

Wellwhatever

Rating: 2/5

But the controls make it unloveable for me. You mold terrain in 3D, but your view is 2D. Flowing from peak to peak is difficult with poor depth perception, and the lack of 3D view makes the controls feel unpredictable. I am open to the idea that I’m dumb or missing something, but something is definitely very unintuitive here. In addition it definitely feels like there is a correct answer for your path, but there is very little guidance. Combine all that with a frequent lack of landmarks, and I often didn’t know if I was progressing or reworking the same bit of river over and over. I think game play needs to be less rigid, or else more guidance. I got stuck and gave up. Maybe I’ll revisit, maybe not.