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Fathers Farm (ScreamJam2025)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Story | #112 | 3.242 | 3.242 |
| Aesthetics | #162 | 3.864 | 3.864 |
| Creativity | #328 | 3.015 | 3.015 |
| Horror | #363 | 2.379 | 2.379 |
| Enjoyment (Best Game) | #364 | 2.788 | 2.788 |
| Sound Design | #665 | 1.636 | 1.636 |
Ranked from 66 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What game engine did you make this project in?
GB Studio
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Comments
What an ending! All that slow buildup did not prepare me for this abrupt and strange climax. With that said, I enjoyed the buildup itself. There's a lot of warmth and nostalgia to all of the lines; the writing is very good, too.
Nice job!
Thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the writing, writing is my favorite part of game making and one of my favorite hobbies in general and hearing the pros and cons of my work is always a pleasure. Thanks again for playing and thanks for the complements!
You're welcome! Writing is quite the opposite for me; I try to avoid it as long as I can, so playing games of other creators who clearly love writing and do it well is always a pleasure.
It's a very nice short interactive story! The style is simple but charming, and I love the story told through interacting with items in the house. Since there's not much actual gameplay, I at least wish the story didn't end so abruptly and kept going, I was really starting to get invested in it. I'm not sure if you plan to expand the game later or not, but you got a great foundation for it.
The lack of audio is a bit disappointing, it would have added so much more to the mood of the game. I honestly thought my audio wasn't working until the only sound effect in the game played.
Also, I loved the goats, they were adorable!
Well done!
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you like the many pieces of dialogue you can get when in the house, writing those was one of my favorite parts of making this game, giving more insight into the world around you and how the main character might be feeling, it feels like a more well rounded world because of that I feel. And since you mentioned it, PLUG TIME! If you DO want to keep up with future versions of this game (and my other upcoming projects for that matter) then consider following me on itch! It helps me out a ton and allows people that are as interested as you are to be up to date on the status of my games, you could also follow me on Twitter or Bluesky where I post teasers of games I am currently working on, like the second installment in the Marrowglen Trinity: Games Collection, Night at the Laundromat. Thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
The art has some personality to it, albeit pretty simple, I thought that the tall grass especially looked good when repeated. The lack of sound made me wonder if my pc was muted, only to be jumpscared by the very rare time there is any sound in the game.
The level design feels a bit like trying to fill up space, making everything seem larger than it had to be and prolonging the game artificially. Especially the path between the house and the farm feels needlessly too long, although the best designed part, the house, is where the player spends the least amount of time in.
Most of the time I felt like I was playing through a novel rather than a game, with mostly dialogue rather than gameplay, which wouldn't be an issue but. The story admittedly didn't evoke any tension or much mystery for me, felt like the entire goats thing was pretty detached from the ending, I'm not sure what purpose it served other than killing time, and although the ending was probably the best part, other than wondering where the dad is, there isn't much build up towards it.
The aesthetics are a highlight, and crafting over 100 lines of dialogue is a task worth commending, just feel there was potential to be uncovered that the 1 week time period didn't allow for.
Thanks for playing and thanks do much for the in-depth comment! To start off, the lack of sound was unfortunately a result of bad time management, nothing really more to be said with that. The path to the barn was supposed to have a lot more to it, dialogue for every room about the character reminiscing about the past, maze mechanics with the dissecting paths, and a lot more interactables (signs, random debris, etc) that would have filled up the walk to and from a lot more. in the draft/early versions of the scripts, you were to spend much more time in the house exploring the different rooms and even doing some puzzle like mechanics to find your way deeper into either the basement or higher into the attic (which either one you got to would decide the games many outcomes), that had to be scraped and shortened to the game only letting you get to the second floor in which you initiative a "chase" and die. The goats were also supposed to have a more involved role with each of them getting their own separate scene with the player and there would have been many more scenes and instances that would tie the activity of the goats more to what is going on in the house (in the earlier versions of the script of course) but again, this had to be subbed out. Little to no build up was also unfortunately a victim of scrapping and subbing. In short, you are 100% correct in the statement that all of these issues were unfortunately victims to time and had I been given more, I would have done more. Thanks again for the detailed comment, comments like these always make my day, the fact that someone would explore my game so deeply, Thank you so much!
Very interesting style! Idk if it was my headphones but sounds were very limited which ig makes sense but still great work dude! (I’m not really good at writing reviews)
Thanks for playing! the limited sounds were in fact NOT an issue on your end and instead a result of my struggle with the deadline. thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I like the ambient and colors you used, the end is very frustrating as I wanted to know more about the story! No music? I don't know if it's a good or bad choice, because it serve the darkness of your purpose... What was that thing at the end?!
Thanks for playing! without spoiling much I will say that the thing at the end is an evolved/mutated goat that has mutated through a ritual that took place before the story of this game. Shameless plug time! if you want to know more about the story and maybe keep up with the development of the full version of Fathers Farm then consider following me, doing so helps me out a ton and keeps you up to date on my future projects, a lot of which are similar and more polished (story wise) than this game. Thanks again for playing and I hope to see you stick around!
The pixel art-style is so nice, and I would pressume you were out of time to put a bgm regrettably, that would have really improved the overall ambience. The ending was a little too early perhaps.
Thanks for playing and thanks so much for your complements of the art! I do very much agree that the ending is to sudden, I wish I had more time to really flesh it out and give a more fulfilling experience to the player rather then just leaving them hanging. Thanks again for playing!
Short game with a pretty atmospheric vibe to the story. I really do wish it had some sort of music, even a single ambient track playing would help a lot, or the text itself having typewriter pixel noises when it appears. I thought the story was established well, there was a good amount of interaction, and I really want to know more about what is going on with the monster.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complements! I've been trying to decide if I'll add a small ambience track in the background or not once I update this game when the jam is over with all of the small bug fixes and minor content additions, I'm honestly torn between removing all sound or adding an ambient track. Now naturally I would tell you all about the monster since I write a lot and love when people ask questions about the writing buuuuuut I don't want to spoil anything since there IS going to be a full version of this game sometime down the line, this feels like even more of a shameless plug then my other plugs but if you do want to keep up with me and see the full version of this game and all of the intricacies with the goat human monster thing then please consider following me on Itch, doing so helps me out a ton and allows you to keep up with news regarding Fathers Farm and its future updates! Thanks again for playing and thanks so much for being interested in the games characters!
I liked the visual style and the atmosphere of mystery. It's also surprising to see so many comments from the character, you've put a lot of effort into this game. The game lacks atmospheric music :c
P.S. It's very strange that the interact button is Alt. The game's page says Z. I don't know if many people have encountered this issue.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complements! I'm so happy to hear that you liked the amount of dialogue the character you play as has to say, unnecessary flavor text, specifically the kind that isn't required to get, is one of my favorite features in games so I try my best to implement as much as my mind can come up with. After testing a little but, it seems that the Alt button does work as a Z key but the Z key should also always work. Interactions and movements are the two things that are hard coded into the game making studio I use (gb studio) so there shouldn't be any reason why that wouldn't work. Also since you mentioned it as an issue I'm inclined to believe that the Z key just didn't work at all for you and to be honest i have no clue why that would be the case. Thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it despite the issues.
Marcy really is the goat she thinks she is (quite litteraly)
I have a lot of love for the art direction; the pixel art is delightful.
It's a bit sad not to be able to reread the descriptions of the objects inside the house to make sure I didn't miss anything, especially since they were well written. I would also have liked to have some background music.
A small amusing bug: you can walk on the door frame in the barn.
I understand that the game's development was a bit complicated towards the end, but honestly, it still works well. And I would be very keen to see a polished version.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complements to the art! I am already aware of the missing collision in the barn but the good news is I have since repaired the once corrupted game files and will now be able to make a patch once the jam is over. Like I've mentioned in other comments this feels like a shameless plug buuuuuuut since you mentioned it, if you really do want to see a full version and keep up with this game (and my others) then consider following me, I can't promise a full version of this game will be out this year or even next year because I have so many other projects already planned out but if you want to see a more polished game from me then I recommend checking out Night at the Harbor, I worked on that game for about two months so it should feel a lot more polished and more importantly finished compared to this game. Thanks again for playing and do genuinely hope to see you stick around for my future projects!
It took me a while to figure out how to skip the monologue and after a few slams on the keyboard, I discovered it’s... Ctrl!?..why? I really liked the retro art style, but I wasn’t totally sure where to go or what I could interact with.
Don't know if you saw this or not but:
Also after testing it, Ctrl does nothing for me to advance dialogue or interact with objects so it could be something wrong on your end but I don't know what it could be. Also not knowing where to go is a fair criticism, I feel like a made it quite obvious but maybe I didn't make it obvious enough. I appreciate the input and thanks for playing and I'm glad you liked the art style!
Great retro feel and gameplay, though sound and bit longer gameplay would've really made this an awesome project. Not to say it isn't a great project still!
Here's my playthrough of your game. It's at the start of this video.
Oh sweet! thanks for featuring my game!
It’s such a cute-looking game, and the story is told in an engaging way!
But I think it would be even better if there were some sound effects during the dialogue or ambient sounds throughout the game. It would really elevate the overall atmosphere.
Thanks for playing! I definitely agree that the game could use more SFX at the very least but I'm glad the story telling kept you engaged enough to over look that. Thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Cool game! Really unique artstyle that really captures the retro style, would like more sound effects and perhaps a ending not so quick, however for the time we had its really well developed and pretty unique!
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complements! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Nice game i really liked the pixel art it’s simple but super effective. The story is also good, it’s just a bit sad that the game has no music or sound effects. With a nice musical piece it would have been soo good.
But still pretty solid, good job.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complement! I'm happy to hear that the simple pixel art worked as intended to captivate you. Thanks again for playing!
There's a good sense of building tension in the story, things not being quite right, your character occasionally saying some odd stuff, but the abrupt ending leaves most of the tension dangling. I liked the character's many little comments on different things and how those fleshed out the story and were able to build the sense of things being off. The artwork was good as well, and I think you could certainly craft a compelling story with more time.
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complements! I do agree that with more time, this definitely could have been presented as a more finished product, but time is a funny thing so who knows. I'm glad you noticed how much the character you play as says and believe it or not there was supposed more, a lot more, dialogue that the player would have had the chance to see. Thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great game. The design is the absolute highlight of this. Everything in it is just so interesting and lovingly crafted. But you can tell in many places that you ran out of time (music/ending). It plays like a demo for a game that I would definitely love to play.
Thanks for playing! Ending it at a demo was an idea I had before I realized that I could present something passable as a very short but full game for the jam, I kinda just didn't want to do a demo since It seems like a lot of people do that for jams (even though that basically seems to be what I did anyway). This seems like a shameless plug but if you would love to play a full version of this game then follow me on itch, I can't promise the full version will come out anytime soon but it will definitely happen and in the mean time I've got a hell of a lot more projects on my roster for the future. Thanks again for playing and I hope to see you stick around!
nicely done :) the ending is abrupt but definitely surprised me! I encountered a bug at the begging, goat led me to haystack but when i got there she was standing on top of barn roof and i couldn't interact with anything, only after couple reloading of scene she sowed up next to it. besides that all works good ;)
Thanks for playing! Another bug marked down, don't get me wrong I can't get enough of people finding bugs, it only helps me out, buts it's such a damn shame that I can't do anything about it since the game files corrupted. Regardless though I appreciate that you didn't let that ruin the rest of the game for you and I'll try to look more into getting the game files back in working order so I can make a bug patch after the jam ends. Thanks again for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
No worries, my game doesn't play music one of my friends spent week making ;/ it's always bummer but that's how jams go :) gj finishing your game!
Fun game
Very strong pixel art. This felt really aesthetic and complemented the game feel
Thanks for playing and thanks for the complement! Pixel art is always been a tricky subject for me because it's very hit or miss whether I am able to make a sprite "look good" or not so it means a lot that you thing it complements the rest of the game! Thanks again for playing!