My goodness, the moment I started the game, and the music reached my ears, I was swept under a wave of nostalgia! The music and the setting was very "evergreen"!

Your music and art is FANTASTIC! It easily sets the tone of the game and I absolutely love Shelley and Leaf's characters. (I wanted to play more 😞  )

Some feedback:

• I found a mushroom! But the ending wasn't different than if I had used Barko; was that by design, or?
• Unfortunately, the white text with no background whenever I interacted with an item, made it difficult for me sometimes to read the description
• I would have loved to hear some nice sound effects (like wind rustling and birds chirping and maybe the crunch of leaves etc), but that's just me

I love games that give me a sense of nostalgia and with your artwork, music, story, writing and characters, it provided just that!

Fantastic work!

This was so cute!! You had me from the first line "I'm not 8 anymore... I'm 8 and a half!" adorable. The pixel art was gorgeous, the music was really nice, and the story was super sweet. There's a ton of potential here if y'all do more development on it, I would love to see the relationship between Leaf and Shelly explored a little, maybe some fun little dialogue while on the sea, exploring how he died/why he wanted to see the ocean, idk. And the inventory, picking up random objects but giving them significance on the boat in Leaf's imagination. Anyway loved this, great job!

Phenomenal art and writing! The opening really nails the protagonist's personality. I understand the team ran out of time, which is a shame. It felt like it ended just as it was starting, and I would love to see a more extended adventure on Shelly's mushroom-powered ship. Hope the drawing mechanic has more of an impact in a potential future release as well. Keep it up!

The music really set the tone of this one. It completely carried the atmosphere. It was very pleasing to look at also.

The dialogue was succinct and well written. I would have preferred much more context / conflict. Give me some reason why I want to help the pirate, and give me a moment of conflict where we fall out or something.

For me the theme wasn't explored so strongly.

I enjoyed it!

Loved the art style, and the animation of the paper crinkling!

This was so sweet! The ending really tugged at my heartstrings. I love Leaf and her design so much; she's a great adventurer :).  I also liked the environment a lot; it really felt wide open. I wasn't sure how the game fit the theme, though. Is the whole adventure made up out of Leaf's imagination?  

Anyway, this was a wonderful little adventure. Great job!

You guys really REALLY nailed the ambiance in this. Adorable art style, great looking backgrounds, chill music (appreciate the live guitar!) and really clever design with the back yard looking like a ship before it turned into one!

The dialog, while short, also had a lot of personality to it! Leaf's 8 and a half line really made me smile, as did the "ghost wizard pirate (etc) captain) line! Well done with that!

In terms of story.... it's definitely a great idea! But as it stands now, I feel like it could use more fleshing out with characters. Shelly and Leaf are both great characters, and the result of their friendship at the end was really sweet. However, I feel like there were some missed opportunities to build that friendship naturally at the beginning. Something to really convince the player on why they are good enough friends to go on this journey together.

I think a good solution for this would be to have more banter between Shelly and Leaf. And the back yard ship would be a GREAT place for that! At the moment, the wheel and flag moments (which are so clever by the way!) are introduced either through instructional text, or very quick, out of context conversation. They introduce the mechanic, but not Leaf and Shelly's connection to it. Instead, let your imagination run wild and let the entire encounter be run by Leaf and Shelly's roleplaying conversation. 

For instance with the wheel.

Shelly "Arrrggg, that there be my steering wheel, but ALAS it was eaten by the mighty pizza monster.

Leaf "A pizza monster! We must seek VENGANCE for your fallen ship!

Shelly "But alas, how can a ship seek vengance without a wheel to steer.

Leaf "Leave it to me and my MAGIC MARKER.

Something like that! It's got a lot more personality than the instruction box, proving a lot more of an immersive environment and building the friendship of Leaf and Shelly with just a few lines!

Also... if you were to extend the gameplay... it might be interesting if Leaf and shelly had to go on a "Hunt" throughout the yard to find what really powers the ship. Barko was a great idea, but it was a tad anti climactic that the solution and everything leading up to it were already in the backpack! Making it a treasure hunt to find could be a really fun idea!!

So yeah! All just little suggestions to make the strong story concept just a bit stronger. But all in all, you guys did a lovely job creating a game with heart and charm! Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see more projects from you in the future!

Well done!
-Sasha

This is such a sweet game. The colors, the atmosphere, the characters, their designs. Everything really came together. 

Unfortunately for me, there seemed to be a bit of a bug where I couldn't interact with an object unless I reloaded the game. But that may honestly be on my end.

Either way, great game!