Really great story, and the way it is linked to the gameplay itself is really cool.
The curses/blessings mechanic is the perfect mechanic to make this kind of gameplay very interesting and.
Hard to master but easy to have fun with, good job!
Edit: as other said, left and right is a bit tricky at first, since I initially thought that "left" and "right" meant "go left" and "go right" and not "turn left" and "turn right". Also, left and right perspective is not immediate from a left-to-right oriented game, it should be more like "up" and "down". I think that this is a little feature that could let people give up before engjoying the gameplay.
Viewing post in Wavered Worship jam comments
Thanks!
Yes, maybe adding the word "Turn" to those two buttons could avoid the initial confusion. I was hoping that people would simply try the commands out, see what happens and then understand it. I am guessing "up" and "down" are equally confusing, if not more so, because after turning their meaning would change. At least the meaning of "left" and "right" remains consistent from the island's point of view. But you are probably right and I should expect some people will give up when something is not directly obvious.
The "trial and error" was the thing I did actually, and I like this mechanic, but it is a mechanic that should be implemented in one of the first levels with a flat difficulty curve. If people is supposed to explore and understand how a game works, it becomes stressful and unwanted if the game itself changes its difficulty or mechanics while people is trying to learn the game via trial and error. It is not about something being "obvious" since I hardly believe people would have fun with an obvious game, and I personally found your game really fun. I had a couple runs... it's just about creating a ground on which people is free to learn the mechanics while understanding what actually is going on.
I'd make some features (like commands or point of view) more intuitive more than obvious :)