My main takeaway- I wouldn't recommend the game as it currently stands. I believe it still needs some improvements to feel like a decent game.

This review is both a gem review and feedback for the developer.

I'll start with UI first.

First off, there is no main menu. When you start the game it abruptly opens on the game screen.
The Settings and Info icons can be found in the upper left corner.

While in Settings I found that there is no way to control the audio levels. It only gives you the option to toggle sfx and music on or off. There are also no accessibility options. Given that the game uses colors and cramped up images inside the bubbles (or circles), accessibility would be a good thing to have.

The Info icon takes you to the instructions on how to play the game and how to acquire bonuses.
The instructions feel overwhelming when in essence they aren't and it should be a fairly simple intuitive methodology. It may be the way the instructions were written, but it does feel a bit convoluted.

Given that this is a matching game, it explains you have to match the "dog families". This doesn't really bug me but what did is that these families have different dog pictures (versus having one picture per breed) with a colored background that in some cases can barely be seen. Having different pictures within a "family", in theory, can be a good idea to represent adults from puppies, but in actuality, it can be confusing.

It also explains that there are power ups you can get and ways to clear the board as most match games do. As I already mentioned. it may be the writing but it just feels convoluted when it should feel intuitive, especially if this is not your first matching game.

Now for game-play. Once I started to play the game it felt like a mix of visually a suika game but in mechanic like a regular match game. I think it has a mix of both these and some of their mechanics.

It was a good call to highlight the bubbles that are in a family or breed of dog but the black color may not be the best choice. Maybe catchier or brighter color. Something that glows perhaps?

I feel like the color and dog pictures should be more visible. Being that the images are cramped up to fit in the bubbles, some loose what they are. Some colors are barely visible due to the size of the dog picture and some dog pictures are so small that you can barely tell what they are. Others the dog and the color may blend together and hard to make a distinction between them. It also doesn't feel like continuity to have very different looking dog pictures to represent the sizes and at the same time have similar looking dogs but they are different breeds.
These don't make the game very accessible.

I also had issues with the randomizing. In one of my attempts I ended up with a board full of big bubbles and barely any mid or small size ones making it almost impossible to get any points.

This may be a bug, but I managed to go way above the fill line and did not lose until the whole screen was full of bubbles.

The "Game Over" prompt isn't very visible either. It's a small red circle hidden inside the dog house (which is to the lower right of the board). It also counts down to your "Game Over". This felt unnecessary. I filled that board to the brim. I lost. That's it. No countdown needed.
I think there might've been a bug during the countdown since the numbers glitched as it counted down..

Once the countdown is finished, the game shows a "Congratulations" screen. This doesn't make sense since I lost. There should be something relates or points out that I lost. "Congratulations" are given if you win. Something more proper might be a retry screen or banner. This can also be an opportunity to add something related to the "helping dog families" theme by asking to continue or there are more dogs waiting etc. -something along those lines- but it should not be a congratulations when you lose.

One of my biggest "What?!" moments was that the game asks for you to sign up/log in to a strange service I had never heard of before. After a web search to see what it was, I really couldn't find any information about it. This in turn made me feel like it may be something sketchy. It just left a sour taste and uneasy feeling when starting the game. It also prompted for it when I hit "Retry" to start the game again.

The game still needs a lot of polishing but it has the bones to be fun cute game with a nice "helping doggos" theme. As the game stands right now, I wouldn't recommend it. If the game developer applies some improvements and makes it feel more like a casual cozy game, I think it will be great.
The dog motif is also cute and a great idea for dog lovers. It just needs a little work.

[code][h3][b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45030479/]🧩Undecided & Puzzled Reviews🧩[/url][/b]Visit and follow my curator page if you enjoyed this review❤️[/h3][/code] [h2][b]Bubble Dogs[/b][/h2] My main takeaway- I wouldn't recommend the game as it currently stands. I believe it still needs some improvements to feel like a decent game. This review is both a gem review and feedback for the developer. I'll start with UI first. First off, there is no main menu. When you start the game it abruptly opens on the game screen. The Settings and Info icons can be found in the upper left corner. While in Settings I found that there is no way to control the audio levels. It only gives you the option to toggle sfx and music on or off. There are also no accessibility options. Given that the game uses colors and cramped up images inside the bubbles (or circles), accessibility would be a good thing to have. The Info icon takes you to the instructions on how to play the game and how to acquire bonuses. The instructions feel overwhelming when in essence they aren't and it should be a fairly simple intuitive methodology. It may be the way the instructions were written, but it does feel a bit convoluted. Given that this is a matching game, it explains you have to match the "dog families". This doesn't really bug me but what did is that these families have different dog pictures (versus having one picture per breed) with a colored background that in some cases can barely be seen. Having different pictures within a "family", in theory, can be a good idea to represent adults from puppies, but in actuality, it can be confusing. It also explains that there are power ups you can get and ways to clear the board as most match games do. As I already mentioned. it may be the writing but it just feels convoluted when it should feel intuitive, especially if this is not your first matching game. Now for game-play. Once I started to play the game it felt like a mix of visually a suika game but in mechanic like a regular match game. I think it has a mix of both these and some of their mechanics. It was a good call to highlight the bubbles that are in a family or breed of dog but the black color may not be the best choice. Maybe catchier or brighter color. Something that glows perhaps? I feel like the color and dog pictures should be more visible. Being that the images are cramped up to fit in the bubbles, some loose what they are. Some colors are barely visible due to the size of the dog picture and some dog pictures are so small that you can barely tell what they are. Others the dog and the color may blend together and hard to make a distinction between them. It also doesn't feel like continuity to have very different looking dog pictures to represent the sizes and at the same time have similar looking dogs but they are different breeds. These don't make the game very accessible. I also had issues with the randomizing. In one of my attempts I ended up with a board full of big bubbles and barely any mid or small size ones making it almost impossible to get any points. This may be a bug, but I managed to go way above the fill line and did not lose until the whole screen was full of bubbles. The "Game Over" prompt isn't very visible either. It's a small red circle hidden inside the dog house (which is to the lower right of the board). It also counts down to your "Game Over". This felt unnecessary. I filled that board to the brim. I lost. That's it. No countdown needed. I think there might've been a bug during the countdown since the numbers glitched as it counted down.. Once the countdown is finished, the game shows a "Congratulations" screen. This doesn't make sense since I lost. There should be something relates or points out that I lost. "Congratulations" are given if you win. Something more proper might be a retry screen or banner. This can also be an opportunity to add something related to the "helping dog families" theme by asking to continue or there are more dogs waiting etc. -something along those lines- but it should not be a congratulations when you lose. One of my biggest "What?!" moments was that the game asks for you to sign up/log in to a strange service I had never heard of before. After a web search to see what it was, I really couldn't find any information about it. This in turn made me feel like it may be something sketchy. It just left a sour taste and uneasy feeling when starting the game. It also prompted for it when I hit "Retry" to start the game again. The game still needs a lot of polishing but it has the bones to be fun cute game with a nice "helping doggos" theme. As the game stands right now, I wouldn't recommend it. If the game developer applies some improvements and makes it feel more like a casual cozy game, I think it will be great. The dog motif is also cute and a great idea for dog lovers. It just needs a little work.