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A jam submission

Grove's LifeView game page

Return your cave to your former glory by activating runes! Entry for game jam CWC Feb 2022
Submitted by ericjdeveloper, Selby Serubii, KillPhilBill — 23 minutes, 15 seconds before the deadline
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Grove's Life's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Aesthetics#113.9104.400
User Experience#222.4882.800
Overall#223.0013.378
Usage of Theme#252.6062.933

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Diversifiers Used

Sustainability

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Comments

Submitted

Really well done with the theme, I would suggest possibly a mini map as I got lost through the tunnels? or maybe a really dim light, but very fun and exciting to try to find what we needed.

Submitted

The fog effect is really well-done. I should learn how to do that, because it would have worked really well for our game. I love exploration, and unlocking new abilities and areas, but with how nice the grove looked it was a pity that most of the gameplay seemed to be taking place inside some tunnels that all look alike and are difficult to keep a mental map of. I found two of the powers, and was unsure if the glowing stairs needed a third power in order to climb successfully. I seemed to get most of the way there with the Dash, but not quite!

Submitted (1 edit)

The dash ability is really fun to use! I found the game a bit frustrating up to that point, though. To the point that I almost quit because it felt like I was wandering aimlessly without really knowing how I was supposed to accomplish the goal - but I muscled through because I wanted to give it a good try. If you plan to expand on the game, I definitely recommend making the objective and the controls a little more clear.

The first thing I came across was one of the floating platforms, and I spent a while wondering if I *should* be able to jump (and what the key for it was). Of course it made sense once I found the first rune, but it would have been helpful at the beginning to see a message like "I've been rendered so weak that I can't even jump around like I once loved doing!"

I agree with other commenters that the tunnels get a bit same-y after a while. But I got the feeling that we were supposed to be able to get lost in them. I think it would be cool if the player was able to place markers of their own on the walls. That way, the game isn't spoon-feeding the player, but the player is able to assist themselves with navigation the way a person might do so in real life.

Overall an interesting concept; the glow skill at the end was an unexpected little treat that felt like it capped the experience off nicely.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback. Dash was one of our favorite abilities as well. Glow was originally kinda... meh? But with the darkness of the tunnels and figuring out how to make the logs appear only when you glow, it became a very neat ability for us to use. I like the idea you suggested about the player setting their own marks to navigate.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for the feedback! We did have some trouble balancing the difficulty of the maze like caves.
I think if we are going to work on the game again we'll definitely give the player some kind of hint system. The one you proposed is actually  a really good idea and I think it would go great with what we already have.

Submitted(+1)

love the maze design, the power up are fun to find and use, wandering around is super creepy

great work 

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

It’s got a really nice creepy aesthetic going, the tunnel mazes were really very disorienting as they should be, and it’s easy to get lost in them for a good while. I kept running out of one of the tunnels and falling to my doom :D

Managed to find the first rune, and the dash was quite nicely implemented and transitions quite well!

It’s really impressive how much you’ve created in 2 days!

Developer

Thank you very much for the feedback! We enjoyed making it! Dash was one of the team's favorite! Zooming through the maze can be very fun.

Submitted(+1)

It has a cool aesthetic to it but just a little dark at times.  The labyrinth was interesting but very easy to get lost in.  I also was not able to swap abilities once I got more than one.

Developer

Thank you for the feedback. The darkness is something we want to look into when we return to the game later and even adding in some sort of vegetation addition so that you can navigate the maze easier. As for the swap abilities not working, that is definitely a bug. The number buttons should allow you to swap, so we will look into that! Thanks again!

Submitted

I really liked the aesthetics and the feel, the graphics reminded me of old RPGs I played back in the day, like Gothic and such. However because the tunnels don't have a lot of distinctive features I spent most of my time lost and unsure how to find my way 😅 The scope of the game is impressive for 48h but maybe keeping it smaller would have helped with pathfinding without being as time-consuming as elaborate level design

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! We definitely agreed that we were pressed for time, and decreasing the scope would've given us more time to add details like that. Thanks for playing

Submitted

This is incredibly impressive in just 48 hours wow. The graphics and atmosphere are top marks!

Developer(+1)

Thanks! This was our first game jam and we're all super proud of what we were able to accomplish!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I like it, I can't quite figure it out I'm afraid, but the setting, the labyrinth of tunnels, the ocassional glowing runes. It feels like theres a mystery here and it does draw you in.

However since there is no map and the tunnels look quite similair it is a little frustrating finding you way. Having found the dash rune I felt like i was making progress, but I managed to bug through the ground somehow and the only way to fix it was resetting. I couldnt find the first rune again since I had no clue where I found it the first time :P

If you develop it further I'd suggest adding some unique landmarks, or maybe small etchings of the runes in the walls close to the corresponding rune.


Either way its very cool, good job!

Developer

Thanks! Definitely if we'd had more time we wanted to add more life to the caves. I love the idea of adding runes to the walls!

Thanks for reviewing the game!

Submitted(+1)

I came back and beat it, very satisfying finally doing it and restoring the grove!

Developer

We wanted something to show progression. The vegetation change was something we were very excited to implement. Thanks for playing again! Which was your favorite ability?

Submitted(+1)

Good Environment Design and seamless experience, but could have had some hint system implemented. 

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Yeah a lot of the users seemed to agree that the tunnels weren't clear enough, thanks for the feedback! Appreciate you playing our game!

Submitted(+1)

Pretty game! Sadly I couldn't finish it because the illumination makes my head ache after a while (the game is too dark and the runes too bright, the effects are neat tho). I don't know if the intention was to get the player lost in the labyrinth but I felt a bit frustrated at the beginning, specially because it's hard to see. I suggest adding landmarks to help the player navigate the cave (in absence of a map)

Developer

Yeah I definitely love that idea of landmarks/a hint system. Sorry about the strong contrast, I definitely feel like the lighting could have been a little more balanced. Either way, thanks for giving it a shot, and leaving this helpful feedback!