Rex Café

Gameplay

How fun/engaging/challenging the game's mechanics are and how well they support the intended experience.

• There simply aren’t enough mechanics implemented to call this a game yet, so I have nothing meaningful to say about moment to moment gameplay.
• With that said, the genre generally relies on interruptions to the core gameplay loop, like events and customer interactions, to break up the experience. I think that would be a good next step, rather than worrying about deepening mechanical depth or balancing the player economy.
• The game notably features a save system that actually functions on browsers, something that deserves praise as it is not common among first time developers and because it’s a relevant feature to specifically this game genre.

Presentation

Quality of the visuals, audio and general juiciness.

• Individually each piece of pixelart is quite nice and detailed. Across the sprites there’s a clear style and tone being communicated that supports a cosy theme.
• The different assets of the game use dramatically different pixel sizes, hurting the visual cohesion of the game a lot. This is a technical fault that is more easily fixed than the style itself, and if all art fit the same pixel grid while being drawn at the current quality level, I am confident the result would be a great looking game.
• The game lacks sound effects and juiciness in general. Atmosphere from guests talking in the background and effects like a pop of coins when the player earns money are some examples, but much can be considered for implementation.

Experience

How well any intended emotions, themes, narrative, atmosphere, or fantasy are conveyed.

• The art alone is quite good and sells exactly what the game is trying to be, before any gameplay is even shown. That clarity is a big strength and should remain a focus if the project is continued.
• Some background music could do a lot to support the emotional tone of the game.

Cohesion

How well the gameplay, presentation, and experience support each other.

• Overall, the sparse experience makes it hard to comment on overall cohesion. I think I can see the vision, but we’re a ways off from having enough of a game to really evaluate much.
• With that said, the project has clear strengths and an understandable premise. At no point was I confused about what experience the game was trying to give me.