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Create free accountGo Outside: Jonas Plays Your Game #004
Key insights
7 takeaways- 01A mandatory day-night cycle automatically transitions players to the next level, creating a time-sensitive constraint that requires environmental awareness.
- 02The project currently suffers from a lack of polish in its menu interface and external hosting page, which hinders player retention.
- 03Platforming controls are currently unresponsive due to a lack of jump tolerance, which negatively impacts the mechanical feel of the game.
- 04The game's core mechanic utilizes spatial persistence, where a player's coordinates on a platform are maintained across levels to allow access to otherwise unreachable areas.
- 05Developers should implement subtle visual cues, such as consistent flora or water patterns, to signal where spatial persistence mechanics are required.
- 06The lack of player guidance and tutorials leads to significant user frustration, as the core objectives and progression logic are not clearly communicated.
- 07Improving user experience requires adding a skip button for mandatory waiting periods and providing more robust documentation on the game’s landing page.
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Transcript
welcome to Jonas place your games today we're gonna play the game by night and against called go outlined actually the game really surprised me it has a really cool twist so keep watching the first thing I noticed it doesn't have a title in the menu so that's a bit set it's called go outside please add your title in the menu also your Start menu looks a bit ugly it's just gray okay let's play oh that's cute I'm a little foxy I would enjoy it if the jaw if the Fox had a jump animation I like the little frog there what do we have to do can we talk and we talk you talk let me check the controls real quick is there anything on the h dot io page that I missed no well I think we need to go up here Oh even with a day/night cycle huh how did I get here why yeah I don't know how I got here I think I can talk with them but I don't know how ah space I need a know so he's having a lot of hard work I like the stone sprites I don't like these wood
sprites here one thing you need to do one thing that needs to be in every platformer is having a bit of tolerance for the jump so even if I hit jump slightly before I hit the ground I should still be able to jump huh why does it suddenly go to the next level I didn't do anything that's so weird do I have only one day to complete the level does it continue automatically after one day I've got to work to do but I hate sweeping that's too bad okay maybe we should hurry up then can we just keep jumping around here till the Sun Goes Down you know this has definitely some charm to it the scene I like it at first I just didn't get why I went to the next level but I think I get it no it's when the Sun Goes Down there are words on the stone clutter your mind with useless things until there's nothing left to be collected okay but what I wanted to say earlier is there also needs a bit of tolerance when I walk down from a platform feels pretty
weird that I and unresponsive that I can't jump just remember whenever I'm on a platform and allow me to jump a little later even if I'm already in the air I know it's not it's a bit like cheating but just feels a lot better and more responsive training again do you think it means something all this rain mm-hmm think didn't rain before or did it it's actually so far it's better than I expected from the screenshot also I don't understand what I need to do at all cool treasure here take my treasure so I gave it to him then what was all my work for it doesn't make sense okay no he stopped working that's interesting and it's it's an interesting game I don't know what to say I don't understand it what happens if I collect all of these nothing it's interesting that you play the same levels again and again what does she have to say no can't
reach this weird collectible up there okay she still has work to do how do I get up there no idea can I go no still the same works on the stone oh do I get the last one Oh what does these two does this do anything no I guess we'll have to wait I still don't know how to reach that final collectable at the top also can't jump on the Sun that would have been funny here I don't understand can I do anything else what am I supposed to do here I feel like there's more but I don't find it you can't find it so right now let me tell you how I feel it feels a bit frustrating because I don't know what the game wants me to do feel like I have to do something specific in one of the scenes but I have to wait around until the Sun Goes Down or a lot of
waiting time not knowing how to get these collectibles I cannot double jump or something like that can I know so that is a problem if players don't understand what I what I need to do I think that is your the biggest problem and the biggest weakness of your game because otherwise I think it's a fascinating idea fascinating project that you can spend a certain amount of time in every scene until the Sun Goes so this could could become an awesome puzzle game an awesome platformer but at the moment I just don't know what to do so that's my main issue I'm pretty sure I figured it out but only after the fact in editing at certain positions you just stay at that very same position so for example in this scene that I show right here I stay on that platform on the right usually as spawn on the bottom but on this exact platform my position transfers over to the next level and this way this way I was able to get the
collectible that otherwise would have been impossible to get and also the treasure that was hidden next to it so actually it's pretty ingenious if you think about it I also noticed that in every level where there's a platform that is hard to reach there is always a platform directly next to it in the previous level that is at the exact same position so I'm pretty sure that's how you're supposed to solve it if you stand exactly on the right platform you your position would transfer over to the next level so yeah I think I solved the puzzle feels pretty awesome actually think it's a pretty smart and cool system it's pretty clever my only criticism with it is that you really have no idea where you have to stand so maybe just give a little hint a little hint where you need to send something all of these places have in common maybe water on the ground maybe a certain kind of flower maybe some mushrooms that all look the same just something that once you have figured it out once you can
apply it everywhere I know your idea was probably that you have to remember where the next platform is so you can go to the correct platform the next time you play it but still I think in order to make this puzzle really cool and really awesome just leave a little bit more hints just just a tiny bit more hints and just some something that is the same every time you can transfer your position over to the next scene that would be absolutely awesome yeah success pretty clever idea I like it a lot actually I love it I feel so smart now this game made me feel smart and that's awesome wait how did I get up there last let's see what happens when the Sun Goes Down hmm I don't get it please give me a
couple more clues I like the leaves falling Leafs okay but let's quit it here I have absolutely no idea what to do let's just leave this game quit so if you want to improve this game the first thing you should do is improve your H dot IO page it doesn't look fantastic I don't think anybody would download this when getting across this page maybe add a little trailer add a little bit more text that would help a lot then in the game tiny bit more guidance so I feel it's pretty interesting to explore and to go around this world and it's pretty interesting concept that I go to the next room or to the next scene whenever the Sun Goes Down I like that it's pretty pretty cool concept but it has a lot more potential you can do a lot more with it I really enjoyed the scene where I could give the miner the treasure and he just kept standing there and didn't
know what to do now and I wish there were more of those things and they'll probably are but I didn't find them I really feel like I missed something maybe I just didn't get it but that means you need to do a bit better job at a tiny bit better job at explaining and guiding the player it's ok if the player has to figure stuff out himself or herself but you don't want players to just leave frustrated after a couple rounds and then especially the waiting once you feel like you clear the level and then you have a way have to wait around every single time maybe add a skip button also tell the players which buttons he needs to use because for example I didn't know I need to use the spacebar to talk with people I just didn't know how should I know then maybe yeah add a bit more interesting stuff to explore I think the concept has a lot of potential especially with the timing element maybe some things just happen at a certain
time in the day and you need to be at the right place in the right time or something interesting like that like what I've said jumping on the Sun or something stupid like that that requires a certain timing so has a lot of potential you I think you can do a lot more with that so if you feel like continue continuing to work on this game there's definitely something here you need to do a better job presenting it and the on the Internet otherwise nobody will play it and you need to do a bit a better job at guiding players and you should add a bit bit more interesting stuff to every scene a bit more progression progression maybe doesn't feel like a finished game though I think you need to put in a bit more work I recommend you do it because as I said I think this has a lot of potential cool thank you very much for watching if you want to send me your game standard - Jonas plays your game at
gmail.com and send me a good mail because I magically started getting a ton of submissions if you want me to play your game I think you need to send me something interesting and really good and compelling thank you very much for watching have an amazing day see you next time
Summary
The indie puzzle platformer Go Outside presents a unique mechanical concept centered on a day-night cycle that automatically transitions the player to the next level once the sun sets. The core gameplay revolves around spatial persistence, where the player’s position on a platform in one level carries over to the same coordinate in the subsequent level. This mechanic allows players to reach otherwise inaccessible areas and collectibles, rewarding experimentation and environmental awareness.
Despite the innovative design, the game suffers from significant usability and presentation challenges. The primary criticism involves a lack of player guidance, leading to frustration as users struggle to understand the core objectives or the specific logic required to progress. The absence of clear tutorials, combined with unresponsive platforming controls—specifically the lack of jump tolerance—hinders the overall experience. Furthermore, the game’s presentation, including the menu interface and the project's external hosting page, lacks the polish necessary to attract and retain players.
To improve the title, developers are encouraged to implement subtle visual cues that signal where spatial persistence is required, such as consistent environmental markers like specific flora or water patterns. Enhancing the user experience through the addition of a skip button for the waiting periods, clarifying control schemes, and providing more robust documentation on the game’s landing page are identified as critical steps. While the game currently feels unfinished, the underlying mechanics offer substantial potential for a compelling puzzle experience if the developer focuses on better player onboarding and more intuitive level design.
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