Oh my... this is basically a love letter, what a beautiful game :')

I (heart) it so much, I think its already one of my favs (inside and outside the jam) Its so emotional, the way you managed to write the narrative is gorgeous, and the music makes my heart feel so warm <3  

You both made me remember that games are more than just moving a character around, they are about what the whole experience means for the user, just like every other art form <3 

I just cant express how perfect and beautiful this game is, thank you so mcuh for making it <3

Loved the game, the really nice piano soundtrack was my favorite part of the game (I love writing music like that myself too!).

It really reminded me of Baba is You (especially the later parts of that game where you have to assemble rule words out of individual letters), which is probably my favorite puzzle game of all time.

Couldn't get past level 4 as I may have managed to bug the game (couldn't work out how to break the bricks, tried what worked in the previous level and spawned no object.)

Like other people said, I can understand why they might have had issues with the controls, but I did not find them "unplayably bad", maybe took a couple of minutes to get used to that's all. I am really happy you implemented the swap with letter mechanic as a nice QOL thing, made the game way less annoying than it could have been.

Definitely would "love" to see this continued (get the pun? :P )!

very lovely game!

i heart oo

This was a lovely experience
The music is very simple, but fits perfectly with the tone. It's specially nice to know it was made by yourselves
Likewise, the gameplay becomes very intuitive after the first 2 levels and the difficulty increases at a good pace

Like some people said, you need to get used to the controls, but it didn't bother me too much
Something small I would've liked is to have a button to manually continue to the next level, since the phrases went by before I had a chance to read them whole

Nice job overall
A lot of effort went into this and it shows 👌💕

Very pretty visuals and wholesome concept. I take issue with the controls, though, as they are very clunky and annoying to use.

Awesome puzzle idea! Those move mechanics sure are a pain though. I also preferred the simplistic levels, and think it would be nice if the trouble were move of finding out what to break and spell as opposed to how to get them everywhere. I honestly saw the last level and just couldn't attempt it.

It took me way more time than I'd like to admit to figure this out, but overall, amazing concept. Lovely story and music. Nice job!

Great idea and implemantation!

Really nice game, it's relaxing but require you to think. I really like the idea of your game, and graphic, and music. :)

Lovely game, like Baba is you :)

The sound is good, gameplay also.

My one complain would be you end up having a hurt hand after a few level by walking all the way from a place to another, again and again, to search letters and form words. But I don't know how to fix that...

Oh and I am glad not all words were working, I would have ended up with weird red and purple butts (might have been funny though).

Good job!

Love the idea, would like to see more of this.

This game is ❤️ touching

Great idea I too got "the ham moment" lol. Would love to be able to just hold a direction tho instead of mashing my keyboard.

Really beautiful game, surprisingly emotional. I thought it was a good spin on the idea behind baba is you. Was funny trying to write hammer and suddenly having a ham appear. I don't have any constructive criticism to give that hasn't been given by other commenters. Good work!

Really great game! Very innovative! I'd love to hear what you think of the game I made!

I really enjoyed this game. it was so cute. From the level design to the music I enjoyed playing. Well done! 

It would be cool if you could check out my game too and give it a rating. https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-5/rate/925013

Solid puzzle game, with fun word play!

Fun: 

This deserved a solid score since the unique mechanic of building words to solve puzzles was fun. I know you only had a week to build this, but I think if you implemented more possible solutions to the puzzles then you could really have fun with the mechanic. 

Innovation/Theme:

 Another solid aspect. You combine letters, which on their own are useless, but together become useful tools. The main word building mechanic was unique which carries over into the theme very smoothly.  Only thing I could say about the innovation aspect, is there has been recent games with similar concepts such as baba is you. It's still a fresh idea of how you use the mechanic though.

Graphics: 

The graphics were very cute and simple. You had a nice squiggle/wiggle effect on all the objects. The background was always a flat black, which generally made the levels feel empty. Don't take this as a negative, but all the art gave me the impression that it was made quickly in MS paint. If you are looking for breath taking graphics, this is not the game for that. This game sticks with a style and uses it well and stays consistent. 

Audio: 

The music was very pleasant and it changed for each level. The music reminded me of the 1950's lovey dovey diner scene you'd see in a movie. It worked very well for the game and didn't drone on. The only thing I can say here is even though the music worked well and fit the game, it wasn't entirely memorable to me. There was no hook to it that made me want to hum it my daily life. But still a solid experience!

Game Design: 

To me, this is the most important category. This is taking every category here and combining them into a end product. You took a fun and unique concept of combining letters to make words that turned into usable tools/objects all with a simplistic art style that still stood out on it's own, with an atmosphere created by a decent story and music that added volume.  The only major drawbacks to this game was the slightly clunky movement. Maybe being able to hold down a key for continuous movement would have helped here, and also the generic black background became a little overwhelming staring at for a bit. The puzzles were very solid and all had a solution, just a strict solution, which once you got the gist of how the game worked, it made the rest of the puzzles feel a little too easy. I think utilization of multiple solutions via different words built could have really improved the game, but in all honesty the time restraint of a week restricted this area. What you created was strong all around and a fun experience!

I streamed the game here:

Wow, what a cute game, I really enjoyed it! Excellent design all around, calling back to previous solutions to help guide the player in later puzzles was very clever. I never felt like I was being handheld, figuring out the puzzles was very intuitive. The art and audio are also very lovely :).

My only complaint would be what others have mentioned on the movement. It's not a dealbreaker by any means, and this game is very well designed in every other aspect. It just felt like I was pressing buttons way more than I needed to and made my hand a bit tired.

What a great entry, I hope you work on it more after the jam!

Great game! Super creative to the theme & the atmosphere you set up with the art style, backstory, and sounds/music are perfect!

My only critique is while I do like the movement style, I don't think you need the directional arrow. It would avoid a lot of unnecessary double clicking on the keys (which you already do a lot of anyways just to move around.) Otherwise, really great game!

I'd appreciate it if you could play/rate my game as well! :)