Thank you for this insightful comment (´∩｡• ᵕ •｡∩`) ♡ This is great feedback!
I spoke to a few of the designers at my school and they also recommended I add a bit more of the contextual narrative elements like you're describing. It is a little difficult to tell what is going on haha. And I agree, I think there's more of an expected element of joy in the act of gifting that could shine through here.
Originally, I wanted the game to be split into two phases: baking and delivering. The baking portion was supposed to be a cozy ASMR experience where you interact with each step of the baking process in a relaxing and immersive way. I think that would have given players a more personal connection to the act of giving bread to hungry villagers. The dark clouds are meant to represent a sort of miasma given off by the hunger that clears when you feed them bread! I think it would have helped to have munching sound effects.
But thank you so much for the kind words! And I do think I will continue to work on this one to see what others think about the concept :)
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Yes of course! And I think two phases would be super cool! And it would for sure give the player more obligation to deliver this bread they took the time and care to make. And the miasma definitely makes a lot of sense. I thought it was just to facilitate gameplay but the fact that there's an in universe reason makes me like it that much more. The time constraints of a jam definitely come for us all, but what you put together is still really cute, cool, and fun! Keep up the good work!