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The Giving Well's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Community's Voice | #80 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
Ranked from 25 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
While planning for this game, we did research into the meaning of generosity, particularly in a Buddhist context. We wanted to emphasize giving without expecting in return, and the karmic impact. We incorporated this into our game by presenting a narrative in which the player is going out to retrieve items that others need. We also present a minor gameplay element in which the player shares their own energy with natural spirits hidden throughout the game's world.
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Comments
Super solid game. I think this game may take the cake for most cohesive style. It felt like a new take on a game like crash bandicoot. The game feels super polished and overall, super well done. The tower bit was definitely my most favorite and I think there is an infinite amount of ways to expand upon these mechanics. Overall, I would believe it if you told me this was a demo for a game coming out soon. Congrats on a job well done!
I was able to finish the experience. The tower bit was pretty cool! I loved the music and forest scenery, and for a 3D game I felt it was the perfect size environment. Serene is the proper word to describe how I felt playing this.
Some of the physics were rough around the edges, and I only found one spirit despite seeing more than one. I also felt the story could be developed with the intention of finding more than the "item in need" at the end of each level. Perhaps I have more to learn from this game, but time is running out. Well done!
Like some others, I was pretty confused by the hub area after the tutorial. I tried solving some of the puzzles, only to find none of them did anything. Eventually I just shrugged and decided to keep exploring, after which I realized that it was actually a hub and not a puzzle level. I think some more guidance to the NPC area would have helped a lot.
Overall a very fun game though! The grappling mechanic is really impressive, and I really liked how it was used for puzzles! I also enjoyed all the art, and liked the design of all the characters!
Wow between the graphics and the hookshot like grappler it brought my right back to my Zelda days. Loved how you crafted the environment. Bushes in just the right places so I know where not to try to go, bottomless pit shaded well etc.
The level designs were really fun and I loved the grapple mechanics. I played all the way through but only found 1 spirit so I might have to have another go.
My only criticism is that in the tower level with the moving grapple points, I felt like I was bouncing around for my life haha.
Awesome job with this!
super cute little adventure ! I really like the grappling hook mechanic that is more used to interact with the environment rather than just as movement. Super polished as well ggs
I really liked the puzzles in this. They were very intuitive. Also the graphics remind me of old games, very nostalgic. I also really like that you made your research on the theme. I found all the spirits and shared my energy with them. It made me happy :)
Cool game that feels like an old school N64 title! The character models were rad and the physics for the grappling hook were really solid. I got stumped on a few of the puzzles, but overall had a fun time playing. Great work!
Beautiful aesthetics and atmosphere. I loved the way you designed the levels and introduced everything - it felt like the right pace for me. I got a little too creative after getting the Axe and was throwing around blocks left and right, until I realized there's a grappling attachment to one of the stone gates I can just hook to propel towards.
Very cute experience! Loved the n64 esq levels and the character design of the game, especially the designs of the spirits with the fluid like heads. Also really loved the physics of the grapple hook, felt like it had a nice handling while still feeling like a swing. I was confused on where I was supposed to go after the tutorial, but after figuring out that it was a hub room I was able to progress easily. I do wish though that the loading boundaries were visualized in the scene, like door fog or something since I was confused on where some of the doors were or where to go. Other than that though I had a really pleasant time with this and loved the direction you had with the game!
The visual design is such a nostalgia trip for me, I love it! The character designs are all so charming and I adore the old-school video game stylization. The gameplay was pretty fun, though there were definitely some puzzles that I got stumped on. Still, I really enjoyed this! Great work, kudos to your team!
Nice game, well executed if a bit slow for a 3rd person platformer in my opinion.
Is there any drawback to sharing energy with the forest spirits (I found 2/6 and one that I gave up on reaching xD)? I was a bit confused since I accidentally skipped the first spirit dialogue to fast and they did not seem to have any gameplay impact.
Overall I liked the presentation a lot and after a few minutes the game really immersed me in a feeling of nostalgia :) Of the three levels the second was my favorite! Had nice flow and was very easy to understand what the designer intended - just pure fun. The first was the worst - I solved it once and then had to restart because of the order of blocks I used that was very frustrating and made me nearly exit the game - yikes ^^ I guess it is recoverable even if you placed the blocks in the wrong order but it is way harder to read than the second and eventually feels like a "gotcha" moment for the designer which is not fun for the player hehe and dangerous as opener. The third level was fun again and very nice use of the blocks, hooks and platforms that by now are well known by the player. Third level exit was a bit confusing and I nearly jumped down since there is nothing leading me to the right where the elevator is placed...
The hub world was also a bit confusing since I started solving the puzzles without effect before visiting the village. I would have liked it more to first visit the village and well and after that get introduced to the gates. Also right now the entrance to the village is just an uninteresting opening in the forest in contrast to the very interesting level gates - so the players might miss the well and get lost and quit ^^
But enough yappin - sorry haha I hope that helps, I always get carried away giving feedback... Overall really well done game! Amazing presentation (the characters aren't my taste tho but they work) environments and interactable objects work well :)
Keep it up! And have a wonderful evening
Thank you for playing the game! As of right now, there is no drawback to sharing energy with the spirits, though we considered a mechanic like that early on and are still considering one for the inevitable post-jam version. At least for me personally, one of my goals for this project was to avoid portraying generosity as a losing position, avoid the notion that to be generous you must necessarily lose something. While that's certainly true sometimes, I wanted to emphasize that there are plenty of opportunities to commit acts of generosity which carry no drawbacks at all! In our story, the player character is generous through their efforts, rather than by sharing some wealth of resources. Introducing a drawback for finding spirits could be interesting mechanically if done right, but narratively it teeters on presenting that message that generosity requires sacrifice. Rather than there being a drawback, there's actually a reward of sorts for finding the spirits, but I won't spoil that here.
I'm sorry that you had trouble with the first level, it certainly wasn't my intention to have it serve as a "gotcha"! While I did have an intended solution in mind while designing the level, the order in which you use the blocks actually doesn't matter. In fact, it's possible to complete the level with just one block if you're tricky enough! Did you know that you can pull blocks up ledges?
I don't mind yapping, I'm a yapper myself. Thank you for your feedback and thanks again for checking it out.
Nice - and not I did not know that you could pull them up ledges :) there was no situation to teach that to the player.
And yeah I also tried a lot of tricky jumping in the first level but could not find any exploits.
Nice. Love the puzzle and the graphic!!
This felt very nostalgic to me. I like the puzzles a lot and the vibe. Really great work!
I like the vibe of this game a lot!!! Although I got stuck with the 2 cubes at the beginning, I went on to the village and then figured it out. Overall a nice peaceful vibe of this game is what I liked the most and the music helped. Good job!
It is only natural to be drawn to the ruins when first encountered, but as they are unable to be accessed… the player may feel misled. The intriguing beauty of the village and its inhabitants do not have enough time to be fully appreciated.
Cool puzzles. The grappling mechanic gives it some speedrunning potential, I found a couple places here you can skip the intended route :D
Overall a fun short experience. Good job.
I encourage that! I think discovering opportunities for speedrun strats is an easy and fun way to add replayability to a short game (I think of BABBDI's achievement for completing the game in under 60 seconds), and I kept that in mind while building the levels. I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for checking it out!
Super strong submission, great work!
Really love the art style of this game! It's nice really refined and creative! The controls are a little hard to grasp, but the game was still fun!