Play game
Quiet Journaling's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #31 | 3.720 | 3.720 |
| Originality | #34 | 3.440 | 3.440 |
| Audio | #36 | 3.440 | 3.440 |
| Overall | #65 | 3.023 | 3.023 |
| Theme | #79 | 3.160 | 3.160 |
| Fun | #85 | 2.560 | 2.560 |
| Accessibilty | #96 | 2.280 | 2.280 |
| Controls | #100 | 2.560 | 2.560 |
Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.3
Wildcards Used
Silent Night, Advent Calendar, UI is Real
Game Description
A relaxing game about the quiet places between breaths. Explore a cozy wilderness and discover different fauna every day with the help of a mysterious journal. Observe your surroundings and retrace the paths of the animals, take it easy -- you've had a hard day.
How does your game tie into the theme?
In order to collect the animal tracks you must freeze, stay completely still, and observe your surroundings.
Source(s)
N/A
Discord Username(s)
dlindema (Dan Lindeman)
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
1
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I had troubles starting this game as the menu was off screen for me (see screenshot) and there was no maximize game button. But, I played with the zoom settings of my browser, and I was able to read it once I set my browser view to 125% (I do not have a 4k monitor). I went through the tutorial first and understood how to play, but it seemed that the tutorial was a bit more forgiving when revealing a track than the actual game itself. As I was playing, I realized that around the 6th or 7th track that I could very faintly see the next track in the distance, so I had an idea of where to go for the next one. Sometimes the bell would ring what seemed to be too far away, and I couldn't make the track fully reveal. However, if I stepped closer to where it was, pulled out my notebook and stared at the spot that I knew the track had to be located, I could "force" the track to appear. All that being said, I actually quite enjoyed the relaxing pace of this game. I do wish the music looped (it ended before I was halfway done collecting tracks) as I found it helped the peaceful mood. Overall, great entry!
Ah, so sorry for the issues with the menu. I'll work harder next jam to learn how to get those to work for every screen setting and resolution, I appreciate your persistence to play! I fully intended the music to loop, and all of the settings I see for that node seem correct -- but yes there appears to be a bug with the music. Thank you for taking the time to give such great feedback and for saying such nice things, I appreciate you!
Yeah, my monitor is older than dirt. It made it extra fun when working on our entry since I did the majority of the art and I'm the only one without a 4k monitor. 😂
The feedback I had were such minor issues though for what felt like a pretty sold game. I'm glad to have played it!
Cool game, I imagine that you were gonna use a shader to have the grass move around but couldn't get it finished in time. I like the concept and how well executed the main mechanic was to stay put (or in other words, freeze yourself) to be able to see the woof track in the snow. I thought the sound effects for the man breathing and the bell was a little tedious to hear after a little while with headphones on, didn't feel satisfying to listen to repeatedly for the 5 minutes it took me to beat the game. Though nonetheless, I like the world and atmosphere you built for the game, you had that nailed down to a tee. The footsteps helped as well to build the atmosphere. The only other criticisms I have is that I accidentally skipped the tutorial because the menu was in the top left and therefore couldn't read what it had to say and arrow keys for moving the camera around felt unnatural and a bit pointless tbh. But otherwise, congrats on your game!
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience! I definitely felt least confident on how to give feedback that you were close to a track without being too obvious or too subtle, I will likely revisit how the bells and breathing work. Menus and controls are not my strong suit right now so I'm always glad to get honest feedback when they don't work for someone -- I'll work on those for the next jam!
I enjoyed playing the game. The visual atmosphere combined with the sound design provide a sweet and calm experience. It was a little cozy game that anyone can enjoy.
Thank you!
i really liked how chill this game is. Even with lowpoly assets(which are really charming!) it really conveys the feeling of walking in snowy forest. Good job, the game has a vibe!
Very relaxing. I enjoyed your 3D models a lot. And I do love myself a good walking simulator game.
Relaxing music and interesting style. But i failed to "explore a cozy wilderness" because most of the time looking for trails i saw snow on the ground :D
The 3D modeling is very impressive for such a short jam like this. The controls and mechanics took me some time to get used to though. Sometimes a bell would ring and I would stop and look around for about 20 seconds or so, only to find nothing. Perhaps I was too impatient?
They are royalty free assets so I can't take credit for them, I used Quaternius and some poly.pizza, they are amazing for jam assets. I did the sound effects and art for the paw prints. The bells ring when you're near a track but that radius is larger than the one that counts when you collect it -- so I think that's tripping some people up.
Thanks so much for taking the time to give me this feedback and for playing my game!
Very cool vibe! I like how art and music entertain, and seven sounds like breath add to the experience. The idea of staying, waiting and looking is great! It would also be cool if, after the track is revealed, you are pointed toward it or if it got highlighted.
There was some issue with the title screen - as if the menu is positioned in (0,0), so I just blindly clicked the play button.
That's a good idea with pointing the camera. Most (most) of the tracks do point-ish towards the next, but there are a few cases (today is actually one of them where the tracks dead ends into a fork in the road) where I needed or wanted to go somewhere a little more interesting. I really wanted a game where patience was rewarded, so it's cool to hear that that resonated with you.
I'm horrible with Godot menus -- so I'm shocked this has been my only so-far comment about them. Thank you for letting me know, I'll have to study up on how they work for the next jam!
Cozy relaxing game with an old-school control scheme that worked very well on the laptop I am playing on. Good and coherent art style as well as an overall fun idea! Good job :D
This was quite enjoyable to play.
The view controls really helped to take it slow.
Could do with some anti aliasing though, the grass is especially affected by missing AA. After some time wandering around the music loop ends and doesn’t restart
Thanks so much for the feedback! I haven't had a chance to work with any post processing or anti-aliasing before, but I'll keep that in mind for the future! My friend also just told me the music loop stops, which is strange because I have it set to looping -- wonder what's up with that.
Cool game. I liked the your 3D models. The music and sounds fits the atmosphere very well!
Thanks Boebi! The models are either from quaternius or poly.pizza -- on the art side I can only take credit for the paw prints.
Well, it's a very relaxing game, and fun, but I actually had a bit of trouble understanding how the tracks are unlocked, maybe a little explanation at the beginning would have helped. Anyway, I managed to collect all 27, but apart from a different bell sound, I didn't see anything else to tell me that I finished the game.
Anyway, it's a great job! :D
I'm beginning to understand that what I did for the advent calendar wildcard is partially to blame for the bad tutorialization of the track collecting mechanic. I didn't want to make repeat players do the same tutorial every day, so I made it a separate experience. In practice, I think few people are using it or it doesn't really explain it well if they do. Thank you so much for the feedback, Frost Fight was awesome :).
I liked how cozy it was. Really nice audio atmosphere. But I didn't hear any bells after 22 paw prints. Maybe I was too impatient.
A fresh breath of air your game. I always enjoy non stressful games in a jam (even though submitting a stressful one :))
I gave it a good rating despite 2 game-breaking bugs:
Thanks for playing! It was a mental dance for me to submit a calm relaxing game while stressing about getting it all done. I'm sorry you ran into those bugs, I'll have a look at the colliders on the logs after the jam. Staying completely still (no WASD input) close to a track for about a second should get them to collect. I had a couple of friends who would stay a little too far away from the tracks when testing, I think there is some fine-tuning to the track-collection area and speed. Really appreciate your feedback!
I am the ultimate tracker! Really calming game and love the little bells. Had me shuffling through the trees haha Great job here
You are the ultimate tracker, today's animal is tricky! The bells are from a chime ornament on my Christmas tree. Thank you for playing!
I am still so suprised that there are 3d games in this jam non of the less this is one of the best 9/10!!
Thank you so much for leaving this comment and for playing. You made my jam!
This was highly atmospheric! I loved the models - I felt immersed.
Unfortunately I couldn't figure out the controls very well - I assumed it'd be mouse and keyboard but was surprised that it was all keyboard. I also couldn't get any of the tracks to really show up after pressing tab for the list. I'm not sure what was supposed to happen!
Thanks for playing! The tracks get counted when you stand completely still near them, they'll turn black (and persist) once collected. Appreciate you so much!