i absolutely adored your game

i remember though being confused in the first map with enemies, theres a skull npc that wasnt accessible and i wasnt sure if there was some sort of puzzle in the room i was supposed to do to talk to them.

MUSIC IS AMAZING!! it brought the ENTIRE game together for me

i think the combat is okay but id like to see some variety to let me be tactical, so far all i really did was use the mystery command to see the different responses, and heal very frequently. it might be too difficult in the beginning i did have to go back and heal frequently

I played it!! I really liked the idea you had in your thread about an AI designed for space travel therapy and then.... well I loved where you took the concept, it will definitely make for an interesting full game!

A few things I noticed: the font was pretty hard to read at times. My eyes aren't the best, so it took some squinting and rereading to get what was being said, especially when the font showed up broken in certain words. Maybe there's a similar font you can use that won't show up jagged and deformed in your game?

Also, I completely forgot what was in Gema's file promptly after I read it. I... ended up kind of guessing the right answers and then going back whenever I got an answer wrong haha... I remember you were planning on a way to access files, once that's in it'd help with my terrible memory a lot.

I really enjoyed this! It's an effective demo: the player gets a good solid sample of gameplay, then uncovers something about the game world that makes them want to learn the whole story.

SPOILER WARNING below here (just in case anyone reading this hasn't played it yet!)

It took me a little while to understand how the "press suspicious statements" puzzle mechanic worked, since Gema's self-introduction has two lines marked with a ! and the player has the option to press her on each of them. It made me think there would be a one-to-one correlation of ! marks to suspicious statements, but then more ! marks showed up on lines in the "Ask about ___" branches and didn't add any new options to the list of statements to press her on. After getting that the marks are general indicators that something is suspicious, I realized that they essentially tell the player "here's some evidence you might want," which diminishes my enjoyment of the puzzles. The contradiction-finding puzzles in the Phoenix Wright games made the player really look through all the text to find something relevant, so identifying the right piece of information was really satisfying. I know a lot of people find that frustrating, though. Maybe consider having a hint setting that can be turned on to show the ! marks and turned off to hide them?

I liked that when I tried to call Gema on her lie about being a medical officer before I'd asked her about her family, I didn't have the option to point out that she didn't go to medical school, only to say that she looked too counter-culture to be a doctor. It wasn't my first playthrough, so I knew she was lying, but this playthrough's SAM didn't have a good reason to suspect that, just a very flimsy reason. (Gema's response to that option is great, by the way.) That made it feel like I couldn't just pick from the choices at random until I got the right one, something I'm ashamed to admit I did occasionally in Phoenix Wright. This isn't consistently the case, though: at the point where the player can guess Gema's occupation, the roboticist option appears even in a playthrough where Gema hasn't talked about her interest in robots.

Incidentally, I did like the lack of consistency between the sets of options. What I mean is that it would have been easy to always have there be a right choice and a wrong choice, as in "robots"/"software" and "not alien"/"not raised on Earth," but then there's the case of "not a doctor"/"not in space," where either option is viable if you have the evidence to back it up. This is a pretty short demo, but I got the feeling that being able to solve puzzles from multiple angles might feature more in the full game.

The one mystery element that felt awkward to me was that SAM always questions whether or not they're really in space. Gema's lines to the effect of "it sure is something to be on the S.S. Vision, in space, where we are" all have ! marks, and I was confused as to why until I got to the end of my first playthrough. SAM figured it out before I did; they even ask Gema about it with no player input, whereas in every other case, the player directs SAM's questions to Gema. It felt like the game prioritized getting the plot twist information across instead of letting me solve that mystery by myself. I can see how that would be more effective for a demo, though, since that information is the main hook for getting the player intrigued.

Gema is a great character! I already really like her and want to see more of her. The artist did a terrific job on her, and she has a distinct voice that comes through even in this relatively short scene. Something I also appreciate about her is that she has anxiety and ADD, as the player learns right off the bat, and that's not presented as inherently funny or tragic or otherwise weird. That feels like a low standard to set for writing characters with mental illness(es), but a lot of works don't manage that, especially video games, so it's a pleasant surprise.

I'd be glad to point out spelling, grammar, and general language flow issues if you want (I apologize for bringing it up if not), but otherwise, that's all. Sorry this post is grotesquely long. Thank you for sharing your demo!

Hey Cepheid,

Want to keep this short, but, I really love this idea. Its got a cyberpunk LA Noir vibe that I am 200% down for. I agree with some of the other comments, a way to bring up the papers would be beneficial to the player. I think the mystery that you set up really lends its well to a sequel/expansion and I really REALLY want to know where it goes.

Keep up the solid work mate,

Atomic Brainbag

I've only played through once so far and I may come back and add more after I've messed around with it a bit more, but I wanted to give you my initial impressions.

First off, this game is SUPER cute! The art style, the concept/gameplay, the writing, everything. It's adorable and I love it.

The puzzles were actually a little hard for me and I ended up kind of frustrated. I only succeeded for 2 out of the 4 customers. The most frustrating thing for me was that when I made a sprite for the merserker, in the description of that sprite it said that they're good helpers for gardening and such. So when the plant tamer asked for sprites to help around the garden, I immediately thought to try to recreate the sprite I'd done before. I used the exact same recipe as before but I ended up getting a boo-boo sprite.

I don't know if that was a glitch or if the recipes only work if you're making them for the right customer? It was just frustrating to do something that had made a real sprite before and have it turn out the failure sprite instead. Even if it's not the right sprite for the job if the player uses a correct recipe, I think it should still make a sprite.

But honestly that was the only problem I had with the game. I think it worked having the convos space out the ingredients (the things they all said were so cute and funny!) and the final confirmation menu was helpful. And frankly I loved all the characters so much.

Have you ever watched the Batman: The Brave and the Bold series? The merserker reminded me of the Aquaman from that series a bit. Which is a good thing.

Anyway, fantastic job! I'm glad I got to play it.

Hi! I hope it's not too late for me to post this. I was following your devlog thread throughout the jam, and I apologize for never having commented on it – your ideas and mockups looked so good that I think I was intimidated. I like the game itself even more than I expected! You've created something really impressive and charming.

SPOILERS BELOW if anyone hasn't played it yet!

The ingredient puzzles mostly weren't hard for me, but I did have trouble with choosing the liquid for the Cat Thief's fog sprite. Magic rainwater creates clouds, which become fog when they're close to the ground, and the dark smoke in the illustration for Dragonflame ale also seemed to fit the Familiar's suggested keywords of "hiding" and "dark." Jeweled honey was actually the choice that seemed least likely to me! If the player was supposed to pick up on the association of jewels with thievery, the Familiar's suggestions don't point to that; if the idea was that the amber crystals "hide" in the honey, then the Familiar puts the player on the right track, but it was a little confusing for me because I thought the answer would relate to fog imagery.

I guess that's related to another note I have about the sprite recipes: they're ostensibly weather spells, but sometimes the right ingredient has less to do with weather than with something about the client. The pussywillow in the Cat Thief's recipe is the example that the Cloud Mage comments on (and that made me smile), but what puzzled me is that the Gryphon Gunner's recipe ends up being about courage and flight more than it is about sunny weather, which is what she had requested.

I didn't find the puzzles very difficult other than my trouble with connecting the associations. There were relatively few ingredients to combine (this isn't a criticism; it felt just right for the length of the game) and I realized after a while that the first three clients' recipe ingredients were mutually exclusive. Having the Plant Tamer's recipe break away from that pattern felt like a neat way of elevating the challenge a little, since it meant I couldn't just eliminate ingredients I'd used for previous clients, but it was still straightforward. I don't feel like the puzzles were too easy, because it didn't seem like challenge was really the point of this game. You said in your devlog that you wanted to depict how failure isn't the end of everything, and I think you accomplished that. (As a side note, I really appreciate that message, since I strongly identify with the Boo Boo Sprite.)

Just as a side note, I love that the spell formula consists of a plant for life energy, a liquid catalyst, and a sweet to feed the sprite. It makes sense in magical terms (if that's not a contradiction), while being distinct enough from other depictions of witchcraft that it's a great worldbuilding element, too.

I liked the characters a lot! I think my favorite was the Familiar – their* visual design is not only cute but also a neat way of depicting that they were made from the Cloud Mage's own energy, and I found them really endearing right from the introductory flyer-distribution conversation. The clients were all charming in unique ways, too. On the other hand, I feel like I didn't get a very good read on the Cloud Mage herself. She seems very business-minded, but she says "oh, fine, ruin my fun" when the Gryphon Gunner tries to bring her attention back to the spell; she jokes around with the Merserker after getting over her initial intimidation, but her attitude toward the Plant Tamer is completely serious and very accommodating, and I didn't know if I was meant to interpret that as her having a little crush on him or what. I get that she tends toward sarcasm and is more guarded about expressing sincerity, but I think what threw me off was that she seemed flippant about her business just as often as she seemed like a hard-working entrepreneur. This might all just be my own difficulties with character analysis showing, though, and her relationship with her Familiar felt sweet and authentic.

*I apologize if you used pronouns for the Familiar and I just missed them or forgot what they were!

A couple miscellaneous things:

• On the first night, there's a line in the "Talk about being yourself" sequence where the Familiar says that the Cloud Mage failed a spell, even if the player succeeded at their spell that day. (Conversely, I did notice and appreciate that their night 4 conversation about underwater society changes a little if you first talk about the client.)
• I love the music stopping when the Cat Thief makes his pun, but I think it'd be even more effective if it stopped right on that line, rather than on the next one.
• Near the end of day 4, the Merserker's sprite is supposed to flip, but doesn't, and an error message appears on the bottom of the Ren'Py window (sorry if you already noticed this one).

i finally got to finish this game!! ugh wow i love the art so much and your writing is very charming, i really enjoyed the familiar's lines. i do like the conversation in between the ingredient selection as well as the ability to change the ingredients at the end after i've chosen all of them. i think as a vn it works really well to weave the conversation + spell choices in this way. i liked almost all the characters and i thought they were pretty interesting in writing and design. i liked the peek into the world and the different species and professions.

i messed up one or two spells and went back to redo them... after the update i missed no spells and it kind of felt like the perfect difficulty. i could see maybe restricting this "check ingredient" to add a little more difficulty as i never really worried about messing up a spell.

overall really great work and an impressive game for the two week timeframe! i hope to see more games from you in the future O: !!

Hey there Nadia,

I only have a few major issues with the game:

1. random awkward collision
2. wall jump not working in the cave (that stopped me from progressing)

now what I do like are the imaginative tone, lovely art and great direction. I really hope you get the energy to continue with this one, I think it shows some great narrative promise.

Keep up the great work,

Atomic Brainbag

I actually really liked the background art, and made the game feel very detailed and lively regardless if it was completed or not. I actually got stuck after my plantbud gf was kidnapped by the giant bird? I talked to most of the npcs but was completely lost after that. I think a simple prompt telling me what to do might help? That might be intrusive game design wise but easier than like visual ques or something.

This game was super cute! Loved the music and the little jumping sounds. And the "save point vodka"!

Sometimes I was confused because it seemed like there were cowboys in areas I couldn't even get to? Were they there for atmosphere?

The levels were fun and I love the fast paced chain that I could go in, tippy tappin along with my lil feet. Also because of the fast pace you could go in, you could have fun solving the problems quickly and finding different paths. The double jump was maybe a bit over powered once you got the feel for it -- you could float for a while.

Sometimes the sprite would hit the side of something and do the standing graphic (I'm pretty sure) and it looked a bit stiff, but overall the animation was super cute.

Hey there Mr. Zalonar,

Dug the game and I have been eye balling your work on tumblr. I found the game to be really easy with some floaty jump control. The one bit that I really REALLY liked was the run down the ally with the bullet chasing you. Expand that feeling into the rest of the game, where you are JUST one step ahead of something, one step away from death. As has been said, the music was lovely and I really like the opening 'cinematic'.

Good job mate,

Atomic Brainbag

Hello!! Your game was one of the first I played.

I am not the best at platforming, but I could not make it past level two in this. I think it was a mix of the time being too short and some of the blocks being small enough to easily fall off of. I think if you made the platforms two blocks long instead of one, while still keeping the short time, it might make it a good level of difficulty. Also, I loved the teleportation mechanic and figuring out where it would send me.

The graphics are charming and pretty and I love the soft monochromatic purple!

Hi,

I'm going to get super analytical (because that's my bag yo) these are also in order of when I encountered a thing or thought of a thing.

• Trust the player. We all play games as well as make them and with that come some expectations. I already was jumping around well before the sign told me to.
• Really loved the inclusion of sudo-narrative elements within the tutorial. The sign where it asks why the teleporters are there. Include that more?
• I like the little bit in lvl2 where you designed the level to allow the player to fail a jump, but then caught them after. Made me smile ;)
  
• The passable blocks are hard to read when moving. They are not that different from the solid ones. Maybe make that stand out a tad more. Not too much or it will be TOO obvious.
• I think I ran out of time because the game reset on lvl3. Had some awkwardness with a slight difficulty spike there. (got it on my sixth try by holding my breath and not blinking ;) )
• Last level is similar, with the number of mistakes I was making I struggled. However, once I did it I felt SUPER awesome!!

Good job again mate,

Atomic Brainbag

hi! i realize you're probably still reworking this but i was able to get a little bit into it while going down my list. i think the game is a little tricky and the difficulty should be eased in a little more--the one 1x1 blocks were very tricky and probably should be introduced later on. with the controls it was often quite frustrating to get onto them + jump up and time the key presses. i didn't make it past level three and level two took a few tries. i will say i like your level design aside from that! you have a really good sense of how to teach your different mechanics, and i liked how the transporter was able to put me back to before a difficult jump so i didn't have to go all the way around again.

i think the graphics and music are both very charming!! i like your color palette and the softened edges on your pixelling--it's very pretty and easy to read.

i think the tutorials signs are very clear! i might even say some of them aren't entirely necessary: in some ways you already "taught" the z press by using it in the start page. i think that was a clever way to teach something. i think most of the others are just fine to leave in, and i could see the jumping being left in too as an extra hint. this is a gem for two weeks of work--excellent job so far!

Played the game twice. Ended with 100 happiness and 200 gold the first time round and 120 happiness and 150 gold the second time. It gave me the "long live the queen" sorta gameplay vibe (albeit a shorter,simpler version of it), which I really loved.

I would really like to see some in depth reaction from the nobles or the commoners at the end. Some scenarios were good for a laugh although it would be good to allow certain choices carry a harsher penalty (towards gold or happiness) or allow the choices carry over to another scenario.

Just curious though, the game didn't seem all that buggy (really awesome considering its your first game), so what kinda advice were you looking for in particular?

• the atmosphere was very relaxing/not creepy at all
• the objectives were very straight forward. almost to the point where there wasn't a lot of challenge(which may have been the point, so take this as you will)
• I played the game yesterday, so I don't really remember a lot about the dialogue. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. Nothing really stood out as really bad, but I also don't remember much of it.
• I really liked getting the popcorn. That simple, little puzzle gave the game a lot of character.

Hey Potatofuzz (ace name btw),

Right, same as last time for me, I'm gonna get analytical!

• Art drew me right in before I even downloaded the game. Really like the rough and ready look.
• I love this almost personal feel to the game. Like I'm reading a slice of life in a fantastical setting. Looking at you, nicknames board.
  
• I like the atmosphere. It was melancholic. I had this feeling of a past well remembered.
• The little to no instruction really made me want to explore (I even think I found a little Easter egg) and it fit the tone nicely.
• the dialogue was punchy. Though I feel a more wistful pace for it would have fit nicer, however, what was there worked.
  

Atomic Brainbag

Okay, so I'm still in the middle of it but I thought I'd point out a couple of things.

• The music is really good, but it's LOUD. Thankfully that can be turned down.
• Combat is nice but it was really hard at first, probably healed after every fight and almost died in the first non-scripted one.
• There's a number of little things you need to fix:
  There's a pixel or three on Herb's face picture. There is no way to finish the Desert World Cause quest. The trigger for Queen Uriel is action, but it causes the screen to fadein with the characters a few feet away. The trigger for the dialogue when you go into that town repeats even after you beat the queen, before doing the post-fight dialogue.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying it a lot and having fun. The one character's swearing gets a little obnoxious, but thankfully the others seem to tug their leash about it, so to speak.

EDIT: I just finished your game around 3 hours and a half hours or so. I'll be highlighting the stream later, but the important stuff is in that stuff up there. Nitpicks are down below.

In case you're interested in typos and such.. there's a couple, the one that stood out most was bureaucratic, the rest I can't really remember it was just that one stuck in the mind. Also, the protag Mx.Gunslinger. You're probably thinking of that supposed gender-neutral term? I kinda wanna say lose it or do something cause it causes the name to run into the class name in the status screen. Also, it's kinda confusing since some people end up calling them Mx. as a name. I kinda thought Gunslinger alone was enough, but this is just my opinion.

Only other thing I can think of is that I really wanted to know more about the world-portal stuff. Why did worlds have them even when they weren't having problems? That kinda thing. Also, did Keepe place all the radios or just the one they mention?

The difficult route definitely felt too difficult on the last level, but I'm not sure if it was just the level or the lack of visual feedback. By that I mean, since I was playing as a box I had no animation cues for how fast I was going or if I was at the top of my jump. It also felt like I would slide into obstacles when I was trying to stop in front of them.

I thought it was a very interesting concept, but I don't really like green being the easy path and red being the hard one. Green and red are often used to mean right/wrong or good/bad so it felt too much like the game was telling me which was the morally right thing to do. It would feel more ambiguous if they were the same colour and the difficulty of the actions would clue us into how hard the next level is. Speaking of which I feel like the actions themselves should be the deciding factor in the difficulty since some people might have different emotional connections to certain things that might change what they think would be the more emotionally difficult choice? idk if that makes any sense, but I saw a few where the easy choice was to take action and the difficult choice was to do nothing and I feel like that is backwards.

After writing all that I feel like I'm sounding overly negative, but I think you have a really cool idea! Just a few tweaks to some of the scenarios and maybe a few more of them and it will be great!