Connectory

The confusion of what to do in Connectory is much like your first day handling real calls in a tech call centre. 

But unlike a real call centre this is a wonderfully addictive game. The charm of the visuals and sound design are excellent. 

I’m not sure I’ll ever connect 10 calls but we shall see…

I would like a little more or even just a smudge of some onboarding as the replay value is great but I fear many players will be put off if they don’t connect anything in their first couple of runs. 

Be useful to see final score on the end screen and I’d love an iPad version. 

I understand originally created for a game jam but even so I do hope a few little updates to tweak game experience. 

I’m in two minds about this game.

First, it’s a great experimental game. There’s something genuinely charming about the aesthetic and gameplay. It hits all the right notes of silly and strange. If the point is to convey how tedious technical support can be and the frustrations (and sometimes satisfaction) of that job for both customer and employee, this game conveys the point incredibly well.

On the other hand, I felt that the game was just downright confusing at times. The symbols that (I assume) you’re supposed to match with the other callers feel like they don’t always convey the ideas clearly enough. It’s strange because in some instances, it’s really clear when you should end a call. (Ex: Customer talking about food or not saying anything at all.) In other cases, you can infer enough from the symbols where you should direct the call and will end up with a success as well. But other times it feels like the “correct” decision ends up being the wrong one. There’s no feedback as far as I know on how you’re doing other than what I assume to be the customer's emotional state. This sort of randomization seems frustrating at times, especially since you only get 3 chances. I’m fine with things being turned into symbols and conveying points without words or even a tutorial, but in these cases, I think there really needs to be a clear distinction on what works and what doesn’t work.

I’m gonna get kinda meta here with my feedback: I’m a bit reluctant and unsure about how to “improve” the experience or even if my feedback is that helpful. Mainly because, I would hate to take away or change something from such an interesting and engaging experience that you (the developer) have created. This could very well be a case of “I just don’t understand the game enough” and I’m always willing to admit I could be at fault for not understanding things properly. I hope that something in all this writing can be somewhat helpful without changing your ideal vision for what you want your game to be. (As I always try to do with each game I play on itch.io)

All that being said, this was an overall compelling experience. If you (the reader) are thinking that this game looks interesting, give it a try! You might “get it” better than I did. Regardless, keep up the fantastic work! :)