This game really makes you think and presents a strong atmosphere. It can be really impactful on the player. I'm just not sure if the game actually has an ending?
Play "Gardening Simulator"
Mind Garden's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Originality | #46 | 4.338 | 4.338 |
Presentation | #300 | 4.095 | 4.095 |
Overall | #862 | 3.419 | 3.419 |
Fun | #2355 | 2.676 | 2.676 |
Ranked from 74 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
This game is about a person whose emotional state is "growing" out of control. The objective of the game is to try and maintain those emotions, before it's too late.
Did your team create the art for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
We created all art during the game jam
Did your team create the audio for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
We used pre-existing audio
Comments
Such a profound game. I felt many emotions playing this one. The art is great. Well done!
A beautiful sombre game that is unlike any of the others I have rated, had to change monitors because of the bug with resolutions and I can't wait to play the fixed version afterwards.
Wow! That was a beautiful take on the theme. Especiallythe art, I love it. I love the metaphor of mind as garden, really deep. Was there a way to reduce the growth? Plants was either increasing or stagnant, maybe I missed something.
Also I had a similar take on the theme related to mental health in case you want to check it out.
The presentation of it all with the vines and plants makes it very eerie and a very good metaphor to explain how a person's emotions can really grow out of control. I felt kinda un-easy and sad while playing but I suppose it's the point XD. I really feel that the game needs a tutorial. Or atleast something more to explain how it works. I suppose the game is really just trying to send a message more than anything else. Great job :)
An atmospheric 'gardening' simulator instead of 'walking' simulator. Not the first that goes with mental health for the theme, but one that does it less directly, comparing the mind to a garden you have to take care of.
I like the aesthetic, the music was soothing and sad at the same time, which fit, and didn't really find any bug. Only thing, is that it wasn't clear I had to drag to open the menu.
Good job overall I would say !
Really nice art and interesting mechanics! Are you going to keep working on this after the jam?
Great presentation and art. Very unique idea of tending emotions like a garden. Don't know if there's a win/lose condition, but I think not having one was the point of the game. Watching those sharp vines get closer made me anxious.
Man this game gets deep fast, really captures the essence of the dark days that mental illness can often bring. The art is fantastic, the expressions tell a tale in of themselves, and I quite liked the setup of trying to tend your emotions like a garden, I would say that perhaps clarity of player action would help a bit, as it feels a bit like as the player you are doing something wrong or not understanding a gameplay mechanic, rather than conveying the sort of message that the "right" choices don't always lead to a good outcome. But, man I struggled to rate this game's level of "fun" XD Seriously though, great job, not only on an interesting game, but, a really interesting depiction of the struggles with mental illness!
I was delighted with how creative this game was, although I didn't really understand how much the story really depended on my choices, I still liked the game. Although I think it has something to do with mental illness, which is not always within our control.
This game is really interesting trying to balance everything can be quite challenging. I love the art work! Superb job! Well done! :D
What a nice approach you took for the theme! What could be more interesting than representing emotions with plants? Is there an ending to the game?! :D Because I got interested so much that I wanted to see what would happen at the end (I guess I maxed out all of the emotions since I got to the point when the plants/emotions stopped growing). With a bit more interactions added, and with a bit more polish, your game would be phenomenal!
The polish on this game is great, espeically the artstyle :) Also one of the more original takes on the them I've seen, so kudos! It's extremely dark and oppressive but this appears intentional and certainly acheives the desired effect.
A great enty to the jam, well done!
I just rated your great game/experience! Thank you very much for watching the stream yesterday!
I would appreciate it if you could check out my game too!
I liked the experience and I think I got the message. The art style is amazing, and the music fits it pretty well. The facial expressions of the character are spot on, I think. It's a good way to supplement the plants in expressing the emotions.
It took me a while to figure out how to open the book, because I was trying to click the arrow instead of dragging.
Nicely done!
I like the art and the music. As for the gameplay, It always just kept growing. I'm not sure if there's just something I'm missing, or if there's some key actions I'm supposed to take. If I'm not actually missing something, then this game is awfully bleak. I'm really not sure what to make of it.
I absolutely love the amount of effort that must have gone into the art for this game; it looks amazing! The music fits really well into the ambiance, and together they really create a somber tone that's especially relatable right now. I agree with what a few other people have said, that this can be a sensitive topic, but I can totally understand how having a win condition could downplay the emotions being conveyed.
Thank you for playing! :) Yeah we didn't expect the game to strike a chord in so many people. On the one hand we're happy we're able to convey the intended emotions, but on the other hand we'll definitely keep the sensitivity in mind (someone else mentioned including a warning, which I'll definitely do)
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