I've talked about the prototype with a few people. The core idea seems to be solid, but the current implementation and the UI need some work.
It's really unclear how to follow the backward link from the first screen. There should be some indicator that stays there. Also, the first time I did it, it apparently led to a black screen (not sure if I accidentally clicked something else).
Thanks for pointing that out! I've got a few ideas on how to approach the tutorial, I'll keep your comment in mind.
I want to put the tutorial directly in to the first scene - it is built to be as simple as possible, but to show all the player actions present in the game. Instead of having a complete control over the game right from the beginning, the player would be prompted to perform following actions, adding new actions gradually:
- go forward to see the glasses getting broken -> ok, i can see some events
- rewind before the glasses got broken -> ah, I can rewind time
- tap the cat -> ok, now I'm freezing some object
- go forward again, get glasses -> ah, I've changed the course of events
- go even further forward, read photo album -> something just got unlocked
- rewind all the way back, getting to the previous scene -> I guess I'm solving another stage now
- entered a classroom stage at the end of the timeline, rewind to the beginning -> hmm, I came from the future, I have to rewind to the beginning of the scene
I'm also facing another challenge - getting contributors. It's gonna be hard, as I've never worked in a team. It seems inevitable though - I'm getting stuck much too often due to the lack of a proper feedback.
I'll definitely need a writer (might be kinda hard, the game is supposed to be speechless). There is no story yet to build the game upon. I've got a few ideas, but non-programmer folks might freshen it up a lot.
As soon as I have a clearer idea on the theme, I'll start looking for some music and hopefully also an artist.