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Dreamgarden's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #11 | 3.242 | 3.400 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
That felt pretty magical, I quite enjoyed the calm vibes that fit the narrative as well - so esoteric that it does make sense when it doesn't. I enjoyed crafting the glass and my applauds to the little poem generation, that's very crafty.
Loved all peculiar characters but hoped they would open up more: and maybe they do but I haven't figured out if there's any connection to the gifts I gave or not. One would think that tags for the dreams matter, but the game never confirmed that suspicion, as characters would just take the gift anyway, having the same reaction. But maybe I've missed something.
I also wondered if I maybe got something broken, as the constant reminder about the weather hinted at having other weather but it didn't happen in several weeks - but could be just something that wasn't developed in time for a jam end.
Even this is pretty impressive, I just really missed something to look forward to: at some point the loop doesn't amuse as much as in the start, and I end up playing without a clue if I could unlock something in the game but just didn't reach that point.
I loved the concept of harvesting dreams from flowers and forging them into stained glass pieces. The interface could've been a bit smoother (I ecpecially longed for the font size to scale along the window size), but otherwise it was nice to play around.
This was gorgeous! I loved the cozy atmosphere & the game loop was set up to deliver some interesting moments. Unfortunately after our first guest arrived we got into a content loop here:
Will play again another time!
This is really interesting, and I would love to see it expanded on more! The player character not even understanding everything they’re doing, having to learn from trial and error and remembering what their great aunt said definitely hooked me. I really loved the art style and the characters you could interact with, but I didn’t really understand the gift giving mechanic (which maybe I just didn’t try out enough), and I wish there was a little bit more variety in the text, especially for the morning. But considering the limited amount of time this was made in, I really enjoyed it! A neat take on farmsim-esque games.
Thank you so much! I definitely had a lot more I wanted to write for it. I at least got a great framework in place for if I do get the focus to go back.
curious about the algorithmic generation, and i unfortunately got softlocked trying to prune no grown flowers about a dozen nights in
but! this game, through tone-matched art, music, and words, makes the surprising variety of things you do (flowers, glass, talking to people + animals) all feel meaningful, important, and part of something. i never figured out exactly what that something is, but i felt instant attachment to my fusings, and took care which to give to whom. the flower types were interesting and beautiful, and i wanted to make them grow longer — i did NOT neglect them — but they died :( i learned my lesson
ugh i swear i fixed that bug 3 times already. Sorry that hit you! Testing got tricky at the end and so much writing remained to do....
Overall, I’m struck by the wonderfully haunting atmosphere of the 3D environment combined with the narrative. I’m not quite sure what to make of “Dreamgarden,” as it’s all purposefully esoteric. However, it was clear to me that a lot of thought and care went into the procedural poetry that sprouted from your garden. In particular, I thought the way you combine the dreams you grow into poetry was lovely.
Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy the writing. There are many run-on sentences like: “You plant it for her, and when it blooms, you offer her the dream, because it’s kind of cute how she waves her hands once again backs away.” I also did not like how dialogue between characters does not stand out from other text.
Finally, a purely technical complaint. As more text comes in, it’s displayed at the very bottom of the screen. It would have been nice to have a bit of a whitespace buffer there.