Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
-I had to check the Itch page to see what the goal and controls were after a lot of wandering around attempting to figure out what I was supposed to do. I eventually ran across plants and connected the dots on samples.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
-I would suggest having a tutorial on first encountering the mini game as the text at the top of the page didn't jump out at me until I had failed multiple times.
-Hold and release was also not immediately apparent when i tried it for the first couple times.
-I found the mini game rewarding to an extent. Having a larger variety of minigames (perhaps based on plant type or some other modifier) would add variety and keep my attention longer.
-I also found that the minigames became less interesting as there didn't seem to be a point to doing them, other than to experience the mini game itself. (aka no overarching goal to the game)
Glaring issues with the village?
-You have some barrels that have their normals inverted.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
-I didn't hear any music or sound effects any time I opened the game so I'm unable to answer this question.
Anything Else?
-Interesting concept, I think it needs some more fleshing out, but you have a solid start. :D
-Also the movement seems to have a fair amount of delay on stopping when you release the input which didn't feel good.
-You could potentially add some platforming to more remote and valuable plants.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
Well, the first thing I wanted to point out is I think that you guys have an excellent level / map!! I was really impressed and it really reminded me of some of the maps I have seen / played in in overwatch / paladins so I really think you guys are doing an excellent job on that. I think if you guys could have implemented a tutorial, (or at least a slideshow type thing with some basic info about the game when you start playing) would have definitely helped me understand the game better, .
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
Hmm I wasn't able to find the mini game personally, just because I was enjoying free roaming your guys world design so much, but I will try to find it in a little bit. I might have been accidentally been on the wrong version.
Glaring issues with the village?
I wasn't abl
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I wasn't able to hear the music unfortunately. I'm not sure if this is because of an audio issue on my computer however. I think it likely is on my end because it seems like other people in these comments are able to hear music.
Anything Else?
I think like you guys indidicated in known issues, I definitely feel like the jump was way too floaty. However, I was extremely impressed with your guys world design and it seemed like it was running a solid 60fps with good details on my non gaming laptop which i was extremely impressed by . Keep up the good work!!
This is an improvement but the mini game could use some more work.
It starts the moment you get into the interface rather than the moment you click on the dragable bar. You still have your inputs during and after affect the minigame or the regular game when exiting. Like if you're scrolling the bar up suddenly you're staring at the sky. If there was a buffer before and after you could probably get rid of this minor issue.
I'm also confused on whether you can sniff the same plants twice or more. Is it time based? So you can sniff the same plants again later if you're careful? There were quite a few plants in the starting area. Wheat, cactus, corn, these all seem hard coded to only give you one sample regardless of how well you do in the minigame. I should be getting 4-6 but they always only gave 1 sample.
Also the speed at which you move in the open world versus the village seem different. It seems slower in the open world but maybe its just there's not much visual feedback on how fast you move or that the scaling is still a little off. In the village jumping felt like moon shoes. In the open world jumping felt like trudging through molasses. I still slide down surfaces, except now the screen jitters if I try to fight it. As well as jumping while on a slope sending me laterally rather than vertically. There's something up with the collision. You made it less floaty by making the character heavier but it's created a different issue it seems without solving the original one entirely. I found the movement in the village to be fine. Even if the jumps were floaty, I prefered it to the open world navigation still.
It would be interesting to either have more variety in minigames, or having differences in reward and cost for different types of plants. I'm consistently getting 4-6 per samples so I'm not in any peril of losing the game any time soon.
Ideas for minigame variation;
A bar that fills and lowers and you have to time your click to land in a zone. The closer to the bullseye the better. It wouldn't be timed, but it wouldn't yield as much samples as the one currently in the game. Like 0-3. But it wouldn't take much energy either.
Hitting keys that appear on the screen like a combination. The faster you input the keys, correctly, the more you get at the end.
Filling up a bar while holding a specific key. Another bar fills faster than the main bar. if the secondary bar fills you fail. So you have to let go of the keys in order to let the second bar cool down. The main bar fills slower but also empties slower.
I didn't hear any music. Or sounds. If there is music and sounds the sound wasn't working. The sensitivity of my mouse was fine.
Overall I liked this much more than the first version, and it retained my attention far longer before I grew bored. It was far less frustrating.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
Honestly, not really. I was able to get some context clues from the on screen notifications, but that was about it. I was able to find the garden and play the harvesting mini game, but I pretty much had no clue what to do after that. There's definitely some direction that needs to be added, either by a tutorial or just step-by-step popup objectives.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
I found it to be a good middle ground. Having to find the sweet spot every time is challenging enough, and it rewards players for practicing and gettign better at finding the sweet spot faster.
Glaring issues with the village?
I think the village was designed very well. Maybe some signs or something to point the player in the right direction would be nice.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I heard no music.
Anything Else?
The general feel of the game needs some work. For one, the sensitivity was way too low. I know there is a settings menu on the title screen where a sensitivity slider is located, but I found the slider to do nothing. It felt like I had to move my mouse 5 feet to make a 45° rotation. 2nd is the movement. There were sometimes where it just doesn't seem very responsive. For example, sometimes I would let go of the W key, but my character would continue moving for another half second.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
I don't think the goal of the game as a whole is readily obvious. I think it would be nice to have some kind of comic or splash screen upon starting the game that guides the player to look for plants would be nice. Also to have keybindings either on the screen during play or in that splash screen would be nice too. Finally, I would recommend having some kind of sign or direction to the shop would be nice because it took me a minutes to find it after initially walking past it.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
The minigame was great I was able to start consistently get three or four samples per plant after a minute or two of playing. I believe it is fine as is.
Glaring issues with the village?
Some signs would be nice for a bit of direction, the art style and layout are nice and don't need any tweaking in my option.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I didn't hear any music in the few dozen minutes I was playing, that or it was extremely quiet.
Anything Else?
The minigame seemed to have an occasional bug where the mouse would disappear, I didn't notice any pattern to this happening but it happened to me twice.
It is fairly easy to clip into objects like the village houses and the rocks in the village by moving into them diagonally at the right angle.
Finally the shop keeper design is very cute I really liked them.
I really like the over all aesthetic of the game and found the premise interesting. The goal to me wasn't really too obvious to me, I know from seeing the progress updates that I was supposed to interact with the plants and play a minigame but beyond that im not too sure what to do. The minigame was interesting and I feel like it had a good balance of difficulty to it and felt responsive. I think the village looked good and really like how the vendor looked like. I also wasn't getting any music at all seemingly. Overall I think it seems like a fun idea and all it really needs is a bit of polish.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
I think I need some kind of opening guide or tutorial, something that sets me on my path. I was very confused at first till I re read the ich.io page. I would recommend you don't use itch.io as a "tutorial" or "story" device. Put that all in the game.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
I liked it, I think it works well with your theme. I think it could use some sound feedback of some kind. The game in general needs more player feedback.
Glaring issues with the village?
The movement, something you already know about, the movement in both worlds needs work.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I unfortunately was not getting any sound. IDK why but no sounds of any kind.
Anything Else?
More player feedback is my number one recommendation. This can come from sounds, UI elements, VFX, and so much more. Reward me for doing a thing. Rewards a no always points, most of the time its what you see and hear. In Left 4 Dead its a zombie getting its head blowen off when you get a headshot.
Overall great job thought, the town looks awesome and I love the work on the procedural world. Plus the dude you turn the samples in to is just great. Well done!
Its a cool game and I like the premise but I wish I moved in the open world like I did in the town. I think speeding the character way up will make the game way more frenetic and crazy. I love the minigame and I think the value range is good I didn't think it was too easy nor did I just constantly fail it. The hud is confusing without any description but I don't think it detracts too much, once you realize the Hz are going down as you fail you kinda put it together that the number is effectively your health. I only ran into a couple of bugs. One where I fell through the map entirely and another where I could jump forever in the town if I turned hard enough while jumping. The menu art is fantastic and I think if you guys did darken the scene and have to move with just the light from a lantern you could pretty much be done with the open world design as it would feel super cold and isolating in a creepy way.
I thought I was losing it because I could not tell if the controls were responding because you have it where you slide constantly. It felt unresponsive. Like the game was moving automatically, which it was. The scale is like wayyyyy off. Maybe that's what you want because you're playing as a crow? But like it takes forever to get anywhere. The world is not proportionate to the player, or the navigation is not proportional to the exploration. Like other people have stated. The game is slow. There's not much to do other than smell the same plant over and over. I have little incentive to traverse the area because it takes forever to travel. There's no jump. No sprint? Can't go anywhere if you fall in a canyon or valley.
Also the controls are slippery. Tapping a direction is inconsistent how much you move. Because it continues to move after you've let go. It's like ice physics. Not a fan.
I think the mini game is annoying because if you click too many times it just loops back around because you start the mini game again. It should have a cool down. If you want to have a mini game for harvesting the different plants, I think you should check out Munch Planet on itch because they have a lot of different clicking based mini games that are more than just spam clicking. Having to either time your clicks or even just having some sort precision based game would be more interesting than spam clicking to smell the flower. Like maybe do something like the hospital game guys are doing where you'd type the notes you smell. Like "Herb is Floral" or Acidic, Woody, Fragrant, etc. But that's if you want to do a smelling based mini game.
Or why even have that? What if it was just a QTE where you had to cut the plant and if you mess up you don't get the full harvest. What exactly was the point of having all these different chunks if there's not much reason to go out there when the herbs are infinitely smell-able.
It is unclear what I'm supposed to do because I don't know what its currently implemented versus planned to be. Is there a button that teleports you to town? Is there a button to view inventory? I ran my hand over my entire keyboard and nothing opened. You've got procedural generation down, now where's the harvesting? Are you going to add resource collection? Will trees have collision? Will there be distinct biomes where you can only find certain herbs? What's the progression? Are you going to eventually brew medicine for townsfolk? It is unclear what the end goal is. I did not record gameplay because I became bored and frustrated within minutes.
I don't care that the trees are floating and have no collision. Where's the open world survival craft mechanics.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I didn't feel that the smell game mode was annoying but I do feel it could have been more interesting, I was thinking of ways you could make it better but my only idea was to maybe have an animation for the smelling or something like that.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
I didn't mind the exploration I just felt it was very slow, maybe if you made more things close to the beginning or something like that could create people more engaged? Or maybe you could figure out how to change the pacing or make the exploration open but on a fixed path.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
The ending where you win needs just a won game thing or something so I don't keep accidentally restarting.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I only played/found the smell game. More games would be more enjoyable, if there was an indicator that I needed to click my mouse would make it a bit more clear and a little less clicking.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The generation looked fine. Didn't feel like there was much to explore, I felt like I moved so slow and just sliding around there wasn't a lot to do
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
If you click to fast doing the smell game you get stuck in an infinite loop restarting the game right when you finish it.
I like the low-poly look of the procedural landscape, I think the ground looks pretty cool. I also actually like the black skies. It feels kind of ominous and mysterious, like I’m roaming around in a simulation.
It is a little hard to explore as climbing up inclines is very difficult, and the perspective/character slides down the slopes. I think moving the camera up slightly could help with exploration, as you would be able to see more of your surroundings. I also had trouble distinguishing parts of the world I had already explored from those I hadn’t, so adding some more detail that would make parts of the world more identifiable (like unique tree formations/geological anomalies or some-such) would make exploration clearer. Or maybe a minimap showing where you have gone.
I suggest adding some sort of visual indicator that shows something can be interacted with, as I didn’t realize what the minigame was until I read someone else’s comment. I was somewhat confused by the minigame: at first I wasn’t sure if it required some sort of action on my part. I did eventually figure out what the minigame involved (clicking rapidly), though it would be nice if it had more of a bearing on the game (it’s also a little tiring on the fingers).
Is the mini-game enjoyable or a bit of a hassle? Any thoughts on how to make it more fun?
In my opinion the game was well developed, I liked the graphics used, t I think it could use a bit of a boost in the fun department. Maybe mixing up the challenges a bit or adding different tasks for each plant could keep players more engaged.
How's the procedural generation working out for exploration?
Exploring's not bad, but it's got its ups and downs. Sometimes it feels like there's a bit too much empty space, and those hilly areas can be a bit of a pain to navigate. I suggest to sprinkle in a few more interesting landmarks or hidden surprises to discover along the way. That'd definitely make exploring feel more rewarding and exciting.
Are there any pesky bugs causing trouble in the game?
There are a couple of little critters causing mischief in the game. Like, sometimes you'll come across objects just hanging out in mid-air, which is kind of odd.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I only found the smell the plant mini game. Maybe add more or other concepts to the minigame, and descriptions why we are doing the minigame. For example why we are smelling the plants, and what that gives us in game. When I loaded in I was confused on what to do in the game, maybe add a description of what we are supposed to do.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The procedural generation looks good, things are kind of sparse though, but may be the concept of the game.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
The objects do not spawn attached to the ground, majority are floating partially. Also all objects can be walked through.
When doing the smell the plant since you are required to click fast, if you don't stop the clicking right away it just constantly keeps entering the smell the plant mini game.
Sometimes clicking on the tree does not actually work unless you are almost inside of the object.
Other issues:
I noticed that if you stop moving on the side of a hill you slowly fall down it.
The Pause menu does not always work. When I entered options then esc out, no other buttons worked and had to hit esc again multiple times to get out of the menu.
Hitting "m" in options menu brings back to main menu and nothing works.
Also hitting "w" in the options just exits the game.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
The minigame is fun. I think to make the minigame more unique you can have a random number of clicks you have to get to finish the minigame so it's not the same every time.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The procedural generation works well. The exploration is fine. The hilly and mountains are hard to navigate around.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
Sometimes trees spawn not connected to the ground and are floating. You can also walk through the trees, which I don't know is an intended feature.
Some questions and thoughts I had.
Should the plant disappear when you finish the minigame?
I think it would feel better if after the minigame the plant is harvested (disappears). Also, right now you can infinitely play the minigame from the same plant.
Will each plant have the same minigame or different ones?
I feel like each plant should have a different minigame attached to it. It would make the game more enjoyable.
Movement feels clunky.
Is there any way to add jumping and running? The feeling I am getting from the movement is like sliding around the floor, making it hard to climb the hills and mountains. Like when I try to climb a hill I start to slide and if you let go of the movement you slide all the way down. Unless that is an intended feature.
Will there be any sound effects/ background music implemented?
I feel like there should be some background music and sound effects.
Will the sky always be dark?
It would be nice to have a day/night cycle. That would make the game more immersive.
Comments
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
-I had to check the Itch page to see what the goal and controls were after a lot of wandering around attempting to figure out what I was supposed to do. I eventually ran across plants and connected the dots on samples.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
-I would suggest having a tutorial on first encountering the mini game as the text at the top of the page didn't jump out at me until I had failed multiple times.
-Hold and release was also not immediately apparent when i tried it for the first couple times.
-I found the mini game rewarding to an extent. Having a larger variety of minigames (perhaps based on plant type or some other modifier) would add variety and keep my attention longer.
-I also found that the minigames became less interesting as there didn't seem to be a point to doing them, other than to experience the mini game itself. (aka no overarching goal to the game)
Glaring issues with the village?
-You have some barrels that have their normals inverted.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
-I didn't hear any music or sound effects any time I opened the game so I'm unable to answer this question.
Anything Else?
-Interesting concept, I think it needs some more fleshing out, but you have a solid start. :D
-Also the movement seems to have a fair amount of delay on stopping when you release the input which didn't feel good.
-You could potentially add some platforming to more remote and valuable plants.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
Well, the first thing I wanted to point out is I think that you guys have an excellent level / map!! I was really impressed and it really reminded me of some of the maps I have seen / played in in overwatch / paladins so I really think you guys are doing an excellent job on that. I think if you guys could have implemented a tutorial, (or at least a slideshow type thing with some basic info about the game when you start playing) would have definitely helped me understand the game better, .
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
Hmm I wasn't able to find the mini game personally, just because I was enjoying free roaming your guys world design so much, but I will try to find it in a little bit. I might have been accidentally been on the wrong version.
Glaring issues with the village?
I wasn't abl
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I wasn't able to hear the music unfortunately. I'm not sure if this is because of an audio issue on my computer however. I think it likely is on my end because it seems like other people in these comments are able to hear music.
Anything Else?
I think like you guys indidicated in known issues, I definitely feel like the jump was way too floaty. However, I was extremely impressed with your guys world design and it seemed like it was running a solid 60fps with good details on my non gaming laptop which i was extremely impressed by . Keep up the good work!!
This is an improvement but the mini game could use some more work.
It starts the moment you get into the interface rather than the moment you click on the dragable bar. You still have your inputs during and after affect the minigame or the regular game when exiting. Like if you're scrolling the bar up suddenly you're staring at the sky. If there was a buffer before and after you could probably get rid of this minor issue.
I'm also confused on whether you can sniff the same plants twice or more. Is it time based? So you can sniff the same plants again later if you're careful? There were quite a few plants in the starting area. Wheat, cactus, corn, these all seem hard coded to only give you one sample regardless of how well you do in the minigame. I should be getting 4-6 but they always only gave 1 sample.
Also the speed at which you move in the open world versus the village seem different. It seems slower in the open world but maybe its just there's not much visual feedback on how fast you move or that the scaling is still a little off. In the village jumping felt like moon shoes. In the open world jumping felt like trudging through molasses. I still slide down surfaces, except now the screen jitters if I try to fight it. As well as jumping while on a slope sending me laterally rather than vertically. There's something up with the collision. You made it less floaty by making the character heavier but it's created a different issue it seems without solving the original one entirely. I found the movement in the village to be fine. Even if the jumps were floaty, I prefered it to the open world navigation still.
It would be interesting to either have more variety in minigames, or having differences in reward and cost for different types of plants. I'm consistently getting 4-6 per samples so I'm not in any peril of losing the game any time soon.
Ideas for minigame variation;
A bar that fills and lowers and you have to time your click to land in a zone. The closer to the bullseye the better. It wouldn't be timed, but it wouldn't yield as much samples as the one currently in the game. Like 0-3. But it wouldn't take much energy either.
Hitting keys that appear on the screen like a combination. The faster you input the keys, correctly, the more you get at the end.
Filling up a bar while holding a specific key. Another bar fills faster than the main bar. if the secondary bar fills you fail. So you have to let go of the keys in order to let the second bar cool down. The main bar fills slower but also empties slower.
I didn't hear any music. Or sounds. If there is music and sounds the sound wasn't working. The sensitivity of my mouse was fine.
Overall I liked this much more than the first version, and it retained my attention far longer before I grew bored. It was far less frustrating.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
Honestly, not really. I was able to get some context clues from the on screen notifications, but that was about it. I was able to find the garden and play the harvesting mini game, but I pretty much had no clue what to do after that. There's definitely some direction that needs to be added, either by a tutorial or just step-by-step popup objectives.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
I found it to be a good middle ground. Having to find the sweet spot every time is challenging enough, and it rewards players for practicing and gettign better at finding the sweet spot faster.
Glaring issues with the village?
I think the village was designed very well. Maybe some signs or something to point the player in the right direction would be nice.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I heard no music.
Anything Else?
The general feel of the game needs some work. For one, the sensitivity was way too low. I know there is a settings menu on the title screen where a sensitivity slider is located, but I found the slider to do nothing. It felt like I had to move my mouse 5 feet to make a 45° rotation. 2nd is the movement. There were sometimes where it just doesn't seem very responsive. For example, sometimes I would let go of the W key, but my character would continue moving for another half second.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
I don't think the goal of the game as a whole is readily obvious. I think it would be nice to have some kind of comic or splash screen upon starting the game that guides the player to look for plants would be nice. Also to have keybindings either on the screen during play or in that splash screen would be nice too. Finally, I would recommend having some kind of sign or direction to the shop would be nice because it took me a minutes to find it after initially walking past it.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
The minigame was great I was able to start consistently get three or four samples per plant after a minute or two of playing. I believe it is fine as is.
Glaring issues with the village?
Some signs would be nice for a bit of direction, the art style and layout are nice and don't need any tweaking in my option.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I didn't hear any music in the few dozen minutes I was playing, that or it was extremely quiet.
Anything Else?
The minigame seemed to have an occasional bug where the mouse would disappear, I didn't notice any pattern to this happening but it happened to me twice.
It is fairly easy to clip into objects like the village houses and the rocks in the village by moving into them diagonally at the right angle.
Finally the shop keeper design is very cute I really liked them.
I really like the over all aesthetic of the game and found the premise interesting. The goal to me wasn't really too obvious to me, I know from seeing the progress updates that I was supposed to interact with the plants and play a minigame but beyond that im not too sure what to do. The minigame was interesting and I feel like it had a good balance of difficulty to it and felt responsive. I think the village looked good and really like how the vendor looked like. I also wasn't getting any music at all seemingly. Overall I think it seems like a fun idea and all it really needs is a bit of polish.
Is the goal of the game obvious? How descriptive of a tutorial is needed?
I think I need some kind of opening guide or tutorial, something that sets me on my path. I was very confused at first till I re read the ich.io page. I would recommend you don't use itch.io as a "tutorial" or "story" device. Put that all in the game.
How's the minigame? Is it rewarding/punishing enough?
I liked it, I think it works well with your theme. I think it could use some sound feedback of some kind. The game in general needs more player feedback.
Glaring issues with the village?
The movement, something you already know about, the movement in both worlds needs work.
Does the music fit the world? Any suggestions for music? (it plays a song from a playlist at random every 5 minutes)
I unfortunately was not getting any sound. IDK why but no sounds of any kind.
Anything Else?
More player feedback is my number one recommendation. This can come from sounds, UI elements, VFX, and so much more. Reward me for doing a thing. Rewards a no always points, most of the time its what you see and hear. In Left 4 Dead its a zombie getting its head blowen off when you get a headshot.
Overall great job thought, the town looks awesome and I love the work on the procedural world. Plus the dude you turn the samples in to is just great. Well done!
Its a cool game and I like the premise but I wish I moved in the open world like I did in the town. I think speeding the character way up will make the game way more frenetic and crazy. I love the minigame and I think the value range is good I didn't think it was too easy nor did I just constantly fail it. The hud is confusing without any description but I don't think it detracts too much, once you realize the Hz are going down as you fail you kinda put it together that the number is effectively your health. I only ran into a couple of bugs. One where I fell through the map entirely and another where I could jump forever in the town if I turned hard enough while jumping. The menu art is fantastic and I think if you guys did darken the scene and have to move with just the light from a lantern you could pretty much be done with the open world design as it would feel super cold and isolating in a creepy way.
How's the balance of energy, currency, and harvesting?
It's fine I think.
Are there any in-world UI bugs?
I couldn't tell that there were any more than you mentioned.
How do you find the world procedural world.
It was fine, I think. Kinda looks like space.
Are there any bugs in travelling?
I didn't encounter any other than what you mentioned.
Anything Else?
I think the game would benefit from either being 3rd person or being able to see your hands.
I also think the goal of the game is unclear. The game could really use a tutorial or something that explains whats going on.
I appreciate the aesthetics of the terminology the game uses (phytomass, beta activity) but I find it makes it harder to know what is going on.
I think it would really benefit the game if you created some kind of game play loop, I feel like there is little incentive to do anything.
I do really like the aesthetic.
I think with some more work, you can really polish the "game" aspect.
Please check the game page to view the details for this version of our game, thanks!
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I thought I was losing it because I could not tell if the controls were responding because you have it where you slide constantly. It felt unresponsive. Like the game was moving automatically, which it was. The scale is like wayyyyy off. Maybe that's what you want because you're playing as a crow? But like it takes forever to get anywhere. The world is not proportionate to the player, or the navigation is not proportional to the exploration. Like other people have stated. The game is slow. There's not much to do other than smell the same plant over and over. I have little incentive to traverse the area because it takes forever to travel. There's no jump. No sprint? Can't go anywhere if you fall in a canyon or valley.
Also the controls are slippery. Tapping a direction is inconsistent how much you move. Because it continues to move after you've let go. It's like ice physics. Not a fan.
I think the mini game is annoying because if you click too many times it just loops back around because you start the mini game again. It should have a cool down. If you want to have a mini game for harvesting the different plants, I think you should check out Munch Planet on itch because they have a lot of different clicking based mini games that are more than just spam clicking. Having to either time your clicks or even just having some sort precision based game would be more interesting than spam clicking to smell the flower. Like maybe do something like the hospital game guys are doing where you'd type the notes you smell. Like "Herb is Floral" or Acidic, Woody, Fragrant, etc. But that's if you want to do a smelling based mini game.
Or why even have that? What if it was just a QTE where you had to cut the plant and if you mess up you don't get the full harvest. What exactly was the point of having all these different chunks if there's not much reason to go out there when the herbs are infinitely smell-able.
It is unclear what I'm supposed to do because I don't know what its currently implemented versus planned to be. Is there a button that teleports you to town? Is there a button to view inventory? I ran my hand over my entire keyboard and nothing opened. You've got procedural generation down, now where's the harvesting? Are you going to add resource collection? Will trees have collision? Will there be distinct biomes where you can only find certain herbs? What's the progression? Are you going to eventually brew medicine for townsfolk? It is unclear what the end goal is. I did not record gameplay because I became bored and frustrated within minutes.
I don't care that the trees are floating and have no collision. Where's the open world survival craft mechanics.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I didn't feel that the smell game mode was annoying but I do feel it could have been more interesting, I was thinking of ways you could make it better but my only idea was to maybe have an animation for the smelling or something like that.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
I didn't mind the exploration I just felt it was very slow, maybe if you made more things close to the beginning or something like that could create people more engaged? Or maybe you could figure out how to change the pacing or make the exploration open but on a fixed path.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
The ending where you win needs just a won game thing or something so I don't keep accidentally restarting.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I'm not quite sure what minigame you are referring to but I enjoyed trying to climb the mountains.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
I'm not sure if this was purposeful or not but I think the character should be bigger/faster. The world looks cool but a little empty.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
The crosshair is still present in the options menu
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I only played/found the smell game. More games would be more enjoyable, if there was an indicator that I needed to click my mouse would make it a bit more clear and a little less clicking.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The generation looked fine. Didn't feel like there was much to explore, I felt like I moved so slow and just sliding around there wasn't a lot to do
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
If you click to fast doing the smell game you get stuck in an infinite loop restarting the game right when you finish it.
I like the low-poly look of the procedural landscape, I think the ground looks pretty cool. I also actually like the black skies. It feels kind of ominous and mysterious, like I’m roaming around in a simulation.
It is a little hard to explore as climbing up inclines is very difficult, and the perspective/character slides down the slopes. I think moving the camera up slightly could help with exploration, as you would be able to see more of your surroundings. I also had trouble distinguishing parts of the world I had already explored from those I hadn’t, so adding some more detail that would make parts of the world more identifiable (like unique tree formations/geological anomalies or some-such) would make exploration clearer. Or maybe a minimap showing where you have gone.
I suggest adding some sort of visual indicator that shows something can be interacted with, as I didn’t realize what the minigame was until I read someone else’s comment. I was somewhat confused by the minigame: at first I wasn’t sure if it required some sort of action on my part. I did eventually figure out what the minigame involved (clicking rapidly), though it would be nice if it had more of a bearing on the game (it’s also a little tiring on the fingers).
(BTW, I love the painted art for the game.)
Is the mini-game enjoyable or a bit of a hassle? Any thoughts on how to make it more fun?
In my opinion the game was well developed, I liked the graphics used, t I think it could use a bit of a boost in the fun department. Maybe mixing up the challenges a bit or adding different tasks for each plant could keep players more engaged.
How's the procedural generation working out for exploration?
Exploring's not bad, but it's got its ups and downs. Sometimes it feels like there's a bit too much empty space, and those hilly areas can be a bit of a pain to navigate. I suggest to sprinkle in a few more interesting landmarks or hidden surprises to discover along the way. That'd definitely make exploring feel more rewarding and exciting.
Are there any pesky bugs causing trouble in the game?
There are a couple of little critters causing mischief in the game. Like, sometimes you'll come across objects just hanging out in mid-air, which is kind of odd.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
I only found the smell the plant mini game. Maybe add more or other concepts to the minigame, and descriptions why we are doing the minigame. For example why we are smelling the plants, and what that gives us in game. When I loaded in I was confused on what to do in the game, maybe add a description of what we are supposed to do.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The procedural generation looks good, things are kind of sparse though, but may be the concept of the game.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
The objects do not spawn attached to the ground, majority are floating partially. Also all objects can be walked through.
When doing the smell the plant since you are required to click fast, if you don't stop the clicking right away it just constantly keeps entering the smell the plant mini game.
Sometimes clicking on the tree does not actually work unless you are almost inside of the object.
Other issues:
I noticed that if you stop moving on the side of a hill you slowly fall down it.
The Pause menu does not always work. When I entered options then esc out, no other buttons worked and had to hit esc again multiple times to get out of the menu.
Hitting "m" in options menu brings back to main menu and nothing works.
Also hitting "w" in the options just exits the game.
Is the minigame enjoyable/annoying? How could it be better?
The minigame is fun. I think to make the minigame more unique you can have a random number of clicks you have to get to finish the minigame so it's not the same every time.
How is the procedural generation? The exploration?
The procedural generation works well. The exploration is fine. The hilly and mountains are hard to navigate around.
Are there any bugs in the procedural generation or with the minigame?
Sometimes trees spawn not connected to the ground and are floating. You can also walk through the trees, which I don't know is an intended feature.
Some questions and thoughts I had.
Should the plant disappear when you finish the minigame?
I think it would feel better if after the minigame the plant is harvested (disappears). Also, right now you can infinitely play the minigame from the same plant.
Will each plant have the same minigame or different ones?
I feel like each plant should have a different minigame attached to it. It would make the game more enjoyable.
Movement feels clunky.
Is there any way to add jumping and running? The feeling I am getting from the movement is like sliding around the floor, making it hard to climb the hills and mountains. Like when I try to climb a hill I start to slide and if you let go of the movement you slide all the way down. Unless that is an intended feature.
Will there be any sound effects/ background music implemented?
I feel like there should be some background music and sound effects.
Will the sky always be dark?
It would be nice to have a day/night cycle. That would make the game more immersive.