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[bitserum]

The two of us threw this together for MolyJam, I think it's probably still a bit buggy somewhere, but here it goes anyway. Could use constructive criticism of any of the game's aspects.


Play Good Boy!

[QCPolmer]

That was pretty fun.

I liked the reactions of the people (and how they could change over time).

A few things I didn't really get the purpose of were the leash and the call button,
particularly the call button.

Is there an end to the game? I stopped playing after a few of the night/day loops.

[SirNiko]

It seemed interesting at first, but didn't impress me all that much. I played about three loops of day and night. At first I wondered if the dog pooping was something I was supposed to police, then I thought it might just be the "end" of the day. Did up or down do anything?

It was hard to tell when the proper window was to discipline the dog or call him back. In particular, it wasn't clear when I needed to call him or yell at him to make him not knock away the children's ball. Once I knew he would do it, I tried to punish him when he starts to run, but it didn't seem to work. Calling him back the third time didn't stop him from lunging, but he missed the ball and the children seemed happy enough. When he peed on a guy's leg I was informed I was too late, but then the next day he didn't do it so I couldn't try to find the right window. I wasn't sure if him barking at the other dog at the end of the night was bad behavior or not, especially since he seemed to ignore me chastising him for growling.

The leash seems like it ought to be a trade off, but it isn't clear what that trade off is. Do I leave it on in town and let him free in the woods? Does it make him unhappy to have it on? Are people more impressed when he behaves without the leash? I would up using it more on the later days and wasn't sure what it does.

The woman offering a "secret" for a well-behaved dog intrigued me, but I didn't have any gauge on how close or far I might be from that. The game also was starting to feel repetitive. Maybe if I got some kind of a score, even a very broad one like "Bad", "Okay" "good" or "Perfect" I could gauge if I was improving each day. I didn't feel compelled to keep playing to learn her secret, but I could be. If the game was a little more engrossing it probably would have motivated me to perfect my dog's behavior to learn what she had to say.

Some games benefit from simple graphical styles but I don't think this one is one such game. I sympathize that it was made quickly for a jam, though. Either flesh out the style to look more deliberate than efficient, or add some detail and color to make it more varied.

I could see this growing into a small webtoy-ish game where the dog has a lot of behaviors or reactions and you just have fun molding the dog to behave the way you want, or as a more traditional game where you try to quickly and accurately train the dog to behave perfectly over multiple levels or scenarios or one complex scenario sort of like what you have now.

The music was fitting, the sound effects seemed appropriate.

[bitserum]

Thanks very much for the feedback guys!
We ran out of time for the jam so we had to drop some stuff. That also left leash and approval pretty useless, and a lot of other stuff is poorly executed.

@QCPolmer Leash's original intent was to control the dog better. Also to be a way for the player to take him to the park instead of defecating in the city. It ended up being mostly flavor (and annoyance as it makes you unable to move forward if the dog is stuck in one place).
The Call command's original intent was to be another thing for the dog to learn, but that was dropped last minute.

@SirNiko that was very insightful and helpful, thank you!
We really needed someone to point out all the flaws; and also see if the concept is interesting enough at surface level to be expanded upon.

[B6ka]

Would be nice if things start happening faster, played a few day/night cycles and then quit. Nice game otherwise.

[Sebastian Brandt]

It was nice with peoples reactions, but if felt unrewarded somehow when it did something right,  the promised secret was not enough to keep me going, played through a 3-4 days, the graphics and music seemed in balance tho.

[8Points]

I'm pretty much in line with everyone else here; played a few day/night cycles, got board, wishing for more depth, but a good start.

Except I liked the aesthetics. Simple silhouettes and a soft melancholy tune made for some emotional stuff. Now I miss my dog...

[bitserum]

Thanks for more feedback guys! 

[Jrap]

Wow, that guy with the cigar is such a jerk!
Nice atmosphere and characters, I felt a little attached to that misbehaving mutt.

If you don't mind me asking? what was your inspiring Molyquote for this game?

[bitserum]

Well, the dog did pee on his foot

The inspiring quote was "Part of the fun of dogs is they misbehave and can be enormously embarrassing to the owner."