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The Plantalist's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Artwork | #1053 | 3.943 | 3.943 |
Creativity | #2233 | 3.679 | 3.679 |
Narrative | #4129 | 2.283 | 2.283 |
Enjoyment | #4544 | 2.755 | 2.755 |
Audio | #8369 | 1.472 | 1.472 |
Ranked from 53 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 the cycle of failure and learning – looping over the same process to get better a little bit each time!
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Comments
very cool concept with cute art. but it's kinda of too much all at once. maybe the elements could be introduced one by one - specially with things like the water amount, that has different effects in each level.
overall, great game, it just needs some kind of tutorial
Thank you for playing! Tutorial is coming, yes! Currently working on a final version c:
Games about growing funky plants always hold a special place in my heart! Glad I'm getting to play and rate this one before the jam ends!
The visuals are wonderful and I like the puzzle or figuring out the different recipes!
Thanks for playing! Hopefully you’ll check out the final release in the works :D
I like the idea, it would be nice to be able to "safe preferences" it's anoying to reset the "right configuration" every time - it is not inherantly clear that x stands for a hit and v stands for a miss ... maybe just renaming this words might help. It is confusing to have no feedback for a successful match ... other than nothing popping up (but probably due to the time limination) - to add a change able "water amount" in every round is also a bit anoying most of the time the plant already looks quite right and then you have to go back and "play arround with the amount of water in each phase"... a simple more water = plant is bigger would probably enough - had some fun with the game - think when it's poolished it can become a joy to play.
Thanks for playing! I’m not sure why you think that, “x” is indeed for a miss and “v” for a hit (their red and green colors also reinforces that). There is a winnning animation, however you may not have gotten it because of an issue documented on the itch page (the plant looks the same as the goal plant but under the hood their ingredients don’t match, so technically you haven’t won – you need to follow the hints to get the right recipe and win). Right now the game is more about figuring out the right combination of ingredients, rather than to get a perfect visual match. I will be fixing that next releases.
As for the water amount, it does have different effects for each phase! In phase 1 it affects the number of sub-branches, and on phase 2 affects the number of fruits/leaves. The visual part of the plants is pretty buggy though, which explains all the weird discrepancies, I’m currently in the process of rewriting that part entirely – hope you’ll check out the final version c:
No I never thought x was a miss... its just the letters don't speak for themself... going back and clicking on a plant wasn't intuitive and I wasn't sure that "v" stood for a miss (so my suggestion would be... just write hit for hit and miss for miss and no guesswork would be required)... Yeah I also thought, that the watering affects different parts of the plant, still me personal would prefer a one to one relationship for me it feels a bit strange to read "water amount I" - "water amount II" ... personal I would prefer "more water = larger plant" ... and something else affecting the number of the leaves... especially since it's easier to "preview an old tried out combination" (which at the current state is impossible with two possible options for watering ... but only one visual representation)
Ah I see, in that case yeah it’s due to lack of time. I couldn’t properly polish anything, barely got all the functionality in – but now I’m working on fixing all of that. Already put out a new version with much more improved button controls! Will also be adding ability to see previous phase’s water amount – I know you said you’d prefer separate options but that’s a design decision so that growing in multiple phases make sense in the first place. If there were separate buttons for everything, there’s no point in growing in 2 phases – just do it in one go. And having multiple phases adds to the difficulty, it’s rather boring without it (I plan on having water type be like water amount in a future release to make it more cohesive). Hope you understand the reasoning! Thanks a lot for your feedback btw, that helps me see where the problems are.
Nice concept and very nice visuals! It suffers from a lack of tutorial but it seems like that issue is already discussed enough. I did manage to figure it out though, as the red and green text at the top that appears was a pretty good indicator. I do wanna say though that this game really lacks in audio! Some audio would really bring it all to life!
Thanks for playing! Audio is planned on a future release, yes! I have the sounds, just need time to properly edit and implement them c:
Why is the Run button behind glass? Took me so long to figure that clicking it removes it, I thought it was disabled. Buttons behind glass usually conveys the visual message that it's disabled.
The visuals are amazing, Conceptually interesting, but way too difficult. Also, after filling up the whole row with my mistakes, it also just stopped working, which is annoying as I got everything right except the Spray.
I think it's very ambitious, maybe a little too much. Could've reduced the options (e.g. no Sprays), would help with the difficulty for players, and give you more time to fix bugs or add audio.
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that the game needs an in-game tutorial to explain the necessary mechanics. That’s the main difficulty, but once it is understood it is quite easy to win.
Sorry for that bug, I found it as well and will be fixing it in a final release with many improvements and added sound. Although, reducing the options would not have given me any extra time at all c’: The game is indeed a little overscoped for a 4-day jam, it’s been years since I’ve made a game, I forgot how time-consuming it is. Thanks for playing, I hope you’ll check out the final version!
Oh I love the concept of this game. But i feel like i'm either too dumb to figure things out, or the mechanics are too obscures. Maybe easiers levels at the beginning would help to introduce the various concepts?
Thanks for playing! Yes it desperately needs a tutorial c’: I will be adding that post-jam, along with various fixes and improvements. For the time being I tried explaining how it works a little in the itch page, but it’s really just a temporary fix and not ideal. Hope you’ll check out the final version :D
Loved the artwork! Not sure I got the game - it told me I got a wrong soil, although it gave the correct plant shape. Still, it was fun creating plants :)
Thanks for playing! Yes there are a few visual glitches, documented on the page. Will be fixing that asap after the voting ends c:
Loved the art style, very cute, and the mechanic of breeding different plants is really cool! Would love to see more of this :)
Thank you for playing! There will be a final release with some improvements, hope you’ll try it out :D
Cute art style and nice little gimmick. I feel like there's more to explore with a looping structure to growing strange alien plantlife. I wonder what else you had in mind?
I did run into a bug when I grew too many plants and the retry button sent my back to the start and stalled my game. But besides that, I liked the experience.
Was there audio? I feel like I was really missing something without any.
Thanks for playing – I added pretty much everything I had in mind except for one mechanic where the plant/leaves/fruits could die, and there was originally 3 growth phases; but scrapped that quickly as I knew that was too much for the time I had (good decision, barely finished on time!).
I am aware of the bug and will be fixing all of that and adding some improvements and sounds in a final release! I had my sisters find me some pretty dope sounds but didn’t have the time to add them in. So I hope you’ll check out the final version as well! Happy that you had a good time c:
Such a lovingly crafted game! I love this art style, and the sense of exploration is amazing too!(Sorry for the clunky translation — thanks for understanding!)
Thanks a lot for playing c: And no worries your english is perfect :D
Pleasure to experiment and see what plant comes out. Great job finishing the gameplay aspect within time bounds. Beautiful visuals, but missing any music at all. Even a simplest boring roaylty free track, or sparse nature sounds would noticably enrich the experience after a while spent with it. Personally I would prefer to try and learn how different conditionas influence the plants rather than have a deduction gameplay, but I suppose that's very personal.
Thank you for the feedback! Sounds were planned but due to lack of time I had to prioritize finishing the gameplay. The current deduction gameplay is a bit accidental, also due to lack of time, I couldn’t work too much on the recipe-to-visual aspect c’: I hope to improve all of this in a final release after the jam. Thanks for playing!
Lots of trial and error... I feel maybe introducing each set of variables at a time before throwing them all together would have been helpful in learning how it works. Very unique take on the theme of focusing on the player's process of repeatedly trying different combination. The art looks really good with all the different combinations of shape, "fruit/leaves", etc.
Indeed the game is missing a proper tutorial. I will be adding that post-jam. Thank you for your words and for playing :D
Cool and hard game, well made
I like the artstyle and overall look of the game, it's really cozy. But as other people said, it's quite hard to find correct combinations, because of amount of variables (even I was noting some of them down) in it. I would think of some more clues?
Anyway, good job with the game, I like this type of the "puzzles" and spent a little, trying to find the correct one :D
Thanks for playing! Since it is possible to check back previous plants, and with the hint system, I didn’t think adding more clues was necessary – I think the real issue is the lack of proper tutorial. From what I’ve played myself and seen from other players, it’s rather easy to win once you understand the process. This should get better in the next releases – and I hope that you’ll check the game out again then c:
Great, little game. Feeling like a scientist, trying to uncover new species :D Insights were also really helpful. Good job!
Thanks a lot!
This is a really neat idea! It was fun trying to figure everything out and it was really satisfying to eventually get the right answer. I was initially a bit frustrated by the (apparent ?) lack of an ability to check previous recipes but I honestly think it added to the game in the end. It was an enjoyable challenge trying to remember what I had and hadn't tried already. Great job!
Thanks for playing! Woah, no there is a way to check previous plants, just click on them – it’s written in the “How to play” section of the description :’D But glad you had a good time anyway xD
Oh, I didn't realize it highlighted the previous recipe as well! I thought it just showed the insight gained. That's my bad.
No worries! I really shouldn’t have greyed out the buttons for previous plants, it’s hard to see right now. I’d say it’s more my bad c’:
The art looks phenomenal, and gameplay-wise, there is certainly something here. Though in its current state, it's a bit hard to wrap your head around since there are so many variables, and every time, you have to look at your previous attempts and then reselect those same things except for 1-2 differences. The insight system is also quite hard to understand currently. It would be great if the buttons for the incorrect variables got crossed out for that plant.
Congratulations, looking forward to the full release!
Thanks for playing, and for the feedback! Will keep that in mind for the final release, there’s definitely a lot of polish and QOL features to add.
try, try again! fun concept.
Love this interpretation of theme. Great artwork, and I think some music could've really made for some awesome vibes. There's something quite cozy about this game, but like some of the other players, I struggled a bit with the gameplay loop. I wonder if there's a way to give players more of a hint before they create the plant? Just thinking out loud. This is an awesome game though! Nicely done!
Thanks for playing! In fact, not knowing which ingredients to choose at first it the point. The idea is that, if you never try, you’ll never progress. The game will never punish you for failing, it encourages you to do so. Failing is part of the learning process – and not the end of the loop!
Interesting concept that needs a bit of polishing. The art is beautiful, I’d love to see more plants. Congrats for your entry!
Thanks for playing! Yep, a final release is planned (with no more new mechanics though, only polish, adding menus etc). Hope you’ll check it out eventually :D