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Nyota & the Moon Palace's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Community's Voice | #49 | 3.516 | 3.516 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Creative Vision / Rationale / How Did You Incorporate the Theme
Nyota & the Moon Palace centers generosity through its story, characters and setting. The game follows Nyota — a young witch who lost her magic and her memories — and her cat Paka at the start of their journey after freeing her from her imprisonment.
This initial setup leads the player to question our protagonist(s) and who they are. Why was Nyota in the cage? Did she commit an unknown crime? Is she a bad person? It is a question that lingers in the player’s mind as they progress through the story, exploring the Moon Palace and a few of its secrets before eventually stumbling upon the broken star.
Without hesitation, the protagonist decides to help the star regain its missing pieces without even being prompted to do so. And after doing so, they are granted “stardust” which gives Nyota’s magical abilities a slight boost. Because of their generosity, the player is rewarded for their act of kindness which also helps them progress deeper into the Moon Palace.
This subsequently confuses and intrigues the player, once again remembering the initial scene. If Nyota chose to help the star all on her own, what could have warranted her imprisonment? Who is she? Although it is not a mystery that gets solved by the end of our demo, its concept nonetheless is one that catches the player’s eye and makes them want to know more.
Additionally, the visual of the beautiful yet empty palace is accented by our simply-designed protagonists and the golden star hanging off Nyota’s hat — a small light that glows bright even in the darkest corners. Against the vast universe and the brilliance of the castle, it’s just you and your cat making it through together, but that’s also doesn’t stop you from engaging with and helping the universe (or a small piece of it at least).
Humanity has always sought a connection to the stars, and in our game, we took that to heart to bring the theme of the game jam to life.
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Comments
Love how you really brought the atmosphere together with sound and visual design, I really enjoyed how you played with contrast!! Didn't have time to finish it but oh I do really want to come back to it :nodnod:
Thank you!! Hopefully you can come back and play the full thing later~
I aspire to make art and music as beautiful as this, but there were some gameplay quirks I found disruptive. The camera jitters in certain places and the music cuts off in others. The flight mechanic was also difficult to use vertically with multiple W keypresses and shift being required. If it were distance-based instead of time-based, it would be easier to handle the inconsistencies.
This is a contender for best visual design IMO, and with more polish and seamlessness in gameplay, it can showcase its strengths even better. Also I love games with cats.
Thank you so much for playing! We too love games with cats lolol. There's definitely a lot to improve upon in all areas and some stuff we couldn't get to due to the time limitations, so the feedback is greatly appreciated for when we go back to polish our demo in the future.
Beautiful scenery, going through the first set of arches with the parallax effect was gorgeous. Touching characters and art!
My only criticism echo's some other comments in regards to the flying. Perhaps being able to jump then fly would help things feel slightly smoother.
Overall amazing job with this!
Thanks for the feedback! We definitely hope to make the flying much smoother and efficient in subsequent patches. Glad you enjoyed it!
Really beautiful game! The art and the music are excellent and go together so well! I'm also a sucker for any game that has a cat haha.
I did find the flying mechanic a little confusing, and sometimes difficult to maneuver with the little bit of "power" I had available, but was quick to figure it out in the end!
Thank you, we too love our virtual cats haha! We unfortunately ran out of time to properly balance the flying mechanic, but glad you were able to figure it out.
Pretty artistic game. The visuals look really good and the audio is well made and really adds to the mood. Great job! Running down the stairs was pretty amusing. It was tricky trying to fly for some reason, not very responsive.
Overall pretty solid entry. Nice work and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback! We have received other comments about the flight mechanic so we intend to go back and rework it to be more balanced after the voting period ends. Aside from that, glad you liked it!
Really impressive game! The artstyle is amazing and I love the music. I'm a sucker for good piano! The game was pretty fun as well. You guys did a great job!
Thank you, we're glad you enjoyed it!
I love the environmental art, it's beautiful in a storybook kind of way. The music is also very pretty and matches well with the environment. Others have said that the movement felt clunky. Maybe, but the only thing I really noticed was that it took me a few tries to fly over the first large gap before I realized that I was expected to "sprint" while on the broom. I was actually very impressed that the cat familiar would jump over obstacles behind me! I know that's not necessarily the easiest thing to get working, and it was a nice detail. I was disappointed that controlling the cat didn't come into play more, however. Unless I missed something, it seems like the only time you need to control the cat is at the very beginning, I was expecting more puzzles involving switching characters. Nevertheless, the art is excellent and I didn't encounter any bugs while playing, good job. I'm interested in what you might do with this project given more time after the jam.
Thank you! I was inspired by storybooks for the art concept, so I'm glad to hear that came through. We actually did have more plans to have to the cat play a more crucial role that actually encourages the player the swap between the two, but we unfortunately ran out of time and had to scrap the idea for our submission. We do intend to keep working on the demo after the voting period, so it's something we plan to add into the patched version. We appreciate the feedback and are glad you liked the game!
Beautiful work, the hand-drawn 2D art and animation are stunning, and the overall aesthetic strongly evokes Gris in the best way. The visual storytelling and atmosphere are truly captivating.
One area that could use refinement is the character movement. It currently feels a bit slow and clunky, which disrupts the otherwise fluid experience. For a game with such an emotional and artistic focus, smoother, more responsive, and slightly floatier controls could enhance the sense of flow and immersion.
Additionally, while the cutscenes are effective in setting the tone, the frequent text interruptions tend to break the pacing. It might be more impactful if dialogue could integrate more seamlessly into gameplay, maintaining the momentum of the experience.
Overall, a beautiful project with a lot of potential, I’d love to see where you take it next!
Thank you for the detailed feedback! Character movement is one area we’ve gotten a lot of input on and we hope to refine it to provide the player with a much smoother experience. Likewise for the pacing and finding a stronger balance between the cutscenes and gameplay. My team and I are incredibly proud of the work we’ve put in these three weeks but we know there’s definitely a lot we can improve upon once the voting period ends. Glad you enjoyed our game and thank you for playing!
Great visual design and vibe, love how the cat jumps on the broom. That's a cute touch!
Thank you, glad you liked the visuals! A witch has gotta have her cat accompany her haha
The art is beautiful - the silhouetted characters with the moon beaming behind the pillars works so well. I love the detail that Paka hops onto your broom when you start flying, but the implementation felt clunky and caused delays when Paka couldn't reach the broom. I seemed to experience a bug where you couldn't assemble the star if you switched scenes by walking off the top right and had to restart. The music is great and fits the environment well. Excellent work!
Thank you for the feedback! Those are definitely things we intend to patch in the game after the voting period ends to avoid the issues cropping up in the future. Glad you enjoyed it!
A game crash was experienced in the room where deciphering is taught. Pressing “two” briefly unfroze the game. The final minute of play time was spent repeatedly pressing this miracle button whilst navigating to the bottom exit. Unfortunately, the program met its end shortly before the exit was reached.
The animation was excellent in a subtle way, such as the gentle hand on her companion’s head, and the flowing dress. The ivories were similarly pleasing to the ear.
Oh no, sorry that you experienced a game crash, we’ll make sure to go back and test to see what might have caused it so we can patch it out, thanks for the heads up! Also glad you liked the animations and music!
Very cool. The art is so beautiful and cool. And the music complements it very well.
I missed a tutorial for the Z button in the first room, I had to check the page to remember the keys I should use, but that's okay. Also I had a bit of trouble with the broom, sometimes it takes me a while longer than usual to move.
Glad you liked it! The Z button was our fault, it was the only prompt we forgot to include because we were rushing towards the end. We also got some comments on the flying mechanic so we’ll definitely go back and polish it. Thank you for the feedback!
for a game with so much thought behind the environment, visuals, narrative and controls - i wish the gameplay experience was a little more enjoyable! the controls felt a little too clunky and difficult (i mean my game has issues with control too because of last-minute rushes, so i completely understand) but i really hope you take it forward! everything looks so magical and visually appealing, and you have evoked curiosity in me about Nyota and Paka and why they were trapped! do take it forward!
P. S. Being specific about controls: flying was difficult to be precise with + the energy drained too quickly and there was not enough time to navigate; when you press shift and use the stairs, it looks off
Thank you for the detailed feedback! We do intend to keep working on our game and polishing the gameplay and mechanics for a more completed demo. We’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished in these three weeks, but we know we can definitely improve upon those elements since we unfortunately had to rush some of them due to the time constraints. Glad you still enjoyed those other aspects and thank you again for your comment!