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Verdant Heart's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Mechanics | #49 | 3.753 | 3.753 |
| Overall | #62 | 3.896 | 3.896 |
| Fun | #69 | 3.779 | 3.779 |
| Aesthetics | #74 | 4.091 | 4.091 |
| Story | #95 | 3.234 | 3.234 |
| Theme | #193 | 3.766 | 3.766 |
| Sound | #202 | 3.221 | 3.221 |
| Music | #241 | 3.312 | 3.312 |
Ranked from 77 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How many people worked on this game in total?
1
Did you use any existing assets? If so, list them below.
No. All assets (aside from audio) were done during the jam time.
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Comments
Interesting level progression concept where the platforms change immediately. No loading screen, yay! There were a few minor glitches like with the player fidgeting while jumping next to or through platforms. But other than that, it was well polished and capable of holding attention throughout. GJ!
Yeah, the ground detection triggers while jumping through so you could, in essence, jump through the ground and trees to get an extra boost. I left it in to keep momentum simple for the jam gameplay. Thanks for your awesome feedback. Something I'll definitely look into ;).
Very impressive stuff for the jam! The art is great and generally easy to read, and there's a lot in there that works well. I'd say the platforming itself is a bit weak (I know this is difficult), I would have preferred one less mechanic in favor of improving that I think. Another thing is it's not clear if it would ever end, which makes it so there's less incentive to continue, but I played until the tree was super massive at level 12 (the tree's growth is cool!). Great job!
I agree that I could have been a bit clearer in the end goal. There is an end (tree level 16 and daytime). Glad you enjoyed it somewhat at least?
Yes it was fun and engaging for a while, a decent challenge without being too difficult overall, and the concept is a good one overall of growing and protecting your base. If you plan to keep working on it, I could see something like thronefall-style upgrades being very interesting in a game like this, where you choose different structures for different branches, e.g. automatically protect half your tree while the other half generates more essence for you while you protect it yourself. Oh yeah and I would say abilities like shooting and repairing should have a bit of a cooldown otherwise easy to cheese. Great job overall for sure!
Oh yeah! I was also thinking of lessening what the player can do at the start, and offering like a choice of picking 1 of 3 random upgrades at the tree's level up. I like your idea there and nice shout out on Thronefall. I watch some of the creator's podcasts and discussions online.
Fun - Super fun! It was such a delight upgrading the world tree and seeing where the roots expanded to next.
Theme - I think you nailed the theme. Growing a new world tree from nothing to the big tree I had at the end was perfect.
Aesthetics - Really wonderful retro feel. I really loved the colors used and the graphic style was right up my alley.
Music - Solid, though the menu screen music just about knocked my eardrums out. I appreciate that your settings worked and I was able to turn it down, though! Not many game jam games include settings (mine included...)
Sound - Sounds worked well and felt excellent.
Mechanics - Really fun mechanics. I loved being able to power up my spear to knock the shielded moths out of the air. I saw some slimes chilling on my tree, however, and I wasn't sure if they were enemies or allies? I tried shooting them a bunch, but they just vibed on, so I left them alone.
Story - Cute story that hit the theme perfectly.
Overall - Really great game! I spent a good while growing my tree and defending its roots. A really solid gameplay loop that I found to be super addicting and easy to lose time to! Well done!
Wow! I am honored with the time you spent to write all of that. Thank you very much. The slimes in the trees, I really should have added a tutorial pop-up for them. They are more essence that you can collect in the day that entice you to go up into the leaves. I could have communicated that better. I was thinking "make them the same colour as the player and the bubbles to make them enticing" but overlooked that making them look like the bubbles (that you shoot) would make people think "Maybe I shoot these" instead of "go up and interact with them".
I appreciate the time you spent and I hope, judging from the sound of it, that you had an enjoyable time. Thank you very much.
Great game. First part is a bit slow, I would show the "tree grows terrain" mechanic a bit earlier.
Thanks. I think also adding in more bubbles, or vary the speed of them, etc at the start to give more. If time permitted, I was starting to brainstorm what else to do at the start. Your comment is very valid and I'm writing it down on my list with the others ;). Gives me something to reflect on. Thanks for taking the time to play it. I hope you had fun.
A really nice game. I liked the idea of building terrain as you kill enemies and collect the essence needed.
I'd speed up the first part of the bubbles a bit, and maybe put a cooldown on the attack, because otherwise you can spam them and it's easy to defeat the enemies. Very good! Keep it up!
Yeah, originally there was an unlimited amount at any time, and I cut it down to 5 shots. Though I could adjust a lot like the timer pauses if you charge/throw again instead of a "once you are not max shots, start ticking to recharge". Thanks for the awesome feedback and glad you liked it :D.
Love this game and enjoyed seeing updates in discord. The most recent changes make it even nicer. Love the little bubbles in the day now too. Very easy to play and get lost in this game.
I think maybe it could be expanded even further but an incredible job for 1 person in just over a week! Well done
Loved the aesthetic. The art was very cool; illustration and pixel art. I wished the movement wasn't so inconsistent however. The variable jump height is a mistake in my opinion because there is no benefit to having the option to go lower than the max height. The charge shot was really cool! The storytelling was a nice addition also. Good job!
Thanks for your feedback. Everyone has different tastes and that gives me some things to consider that I never would have thought. Something I can add into options later, or if I expand on the idea to give reason for variable height. I appreciate the information :D.
The art and gameplay is super!! Really enjoyed the game!
Thank you! That makes me happy you enjoyed it!
Great concept and execution! This was really fun to play.
Thank you very much. I'm happy you had fun :D.
Gorgeous art. Great concept. Very well explained and detailed game play. Great story.
Thanks sirathon! Glad you liked it. Your game was fun to play too and well done :D.
I love the art! The idea of building up a (tiny) world from a single sapling is very neat.
I liked the arrow indicators which revealed which parts of the tree's roots were under attack, but in the end I found it was easier to run from one side to the other throwing spears than to heal the roots back to full. Losing the roots felt bad but didn't seem to impede the overall goal and I did manage to win by day 11.
There's a bit of graphical tearing in the tree's leaves at higher essence levels, I think a sprite atlas might sort that out?
Way to go on finishing it! Yeah, I agree that some balancing could be done. I think I need to revisit the spawning algorithm for the moths to add more tension and drive to save the roots. Or maybe each root that dies deducts life from the tree instead of the whole chain always only losing 1 health. Or something. And I just noticed that leaf issue earlier today and was just ignoring it for later :P. Something I'll definitely look into. Thanks for playing :D.
I know very well the feeling of ignoring something discovered on the last day of a game jam. 😸
One other thing I meant to mention: I used falling off the platform a lot as a method of quick travel, I'm not sure if that was deliberate design or an exploit. I did feel like I ought to be punished for doing it.
AHAHAHA! I started using that as an exploit as well. Maybe I can deduct a health point from the tree when you do that. You are supposed to be a spirit of that tree. Would get around that exploit some, but still make use of it. Also leveling up the tree, I could only level up so many points?
I thought perhaps losing some (or all) of your carried essence might be enough to dissuade players from pit teleportation. :)
Oooo! I like that. I didn't even think about loosing essences. Hmm. That could open up some possibilities.
Very neat game. I enjoy the growth of the tree and how the world progress as you play.
Thanks PawnxPawn. My original idea was a sketch of a single small tree on a plot of single block land and you, the player. The rest was just brainstorming, playtesting, trial and error to get to this point. Lots of amazing feedback from lots of people in the testing phase. Glad you liked it :D.
You started with a solid premise and built well from this. I'd be curious to see where this goes should you choose to expand on it!
Aww. Thanks :D I have some ideas. I ran out of time but have a boss in mind at the very least. I'm also going to take in ideas from comments and brainstorm if I was to build this into a fuller game later on or what.
Fun clicker game
Thanks :D.
Loved watching you progress in this game. Beautiful graphics and music. Well done!
Thanks BT. It was a journey, that is for sure. I'm elated to read at how people are having a great time with it.
A very cool concept. Nicely executed game jam project!
Thanks Martin :D. I appreciate you taking the time trying it out.
Your talent is very much on show mate, love this game.
Thanks Marcus. It was a blast playing and a lot of the success and pride I feel for it comes from the amazing play testers that gave feedback early to help me fashion the game in this wonderful direction.
Loved watching you play my game. a treat seeing someone play it.
This artwork is incredible, and I really like the idea. For some reason I was unable to move around or jump. But throwing the spears was fun!
That's interesting (and unfortunate). Sorry to hear that. What were you using for movement? A/D? A Gamepad? Something that would help me look into the matter since this is a first about this issue reported. Thanks for trying it out!
I was using A/D. I did not get a chance to test with a gamepad due to children, but might revisit later if time.
Interesting. On PC? Or Mac? What browser. I'm surprised A/D didn't work :(.
Oh, it worked this time! My gamepad didn't connect, but that's on my end. Keyboard worked for me this time. PC, Chrome.
Oh that's good to hear. I wonder what caused it to begin with...hmm.. I hope you have fun! Let me know if you find any bugs. ;)
I really like the concept, it's a really unique idea. I also really like how you explain a mechanic as it happens, but the text is really hard to read, at least for me. Otherwise, great job!
Thanks Joker. Were you playing on a small screen and/or not at full screen? I'm asking so it's something I can keep in mind for next time (or later with bug fixes!).
Great look and feel to the game.
Such a unique platformer, being able to climb down and up the tree.
Had fun also shooting the bubbles during the day, and hunting down the blobs to mine as well.
Great job!
Thanks Morgan! I'm glad you enjoyed it.