I got through the whole entire demo of Snowdrift. There were some things I liked about it, and there were other things I can see room for improvement in.
First off, I liked the simplicity of the storytelling and how it was easy to follow along with in terms of plot and character. On the flip side, I felt like there was more telling than showing who the main character was in the beginning, which didn’t make for the best read, let alone did it help me connect with the protagonist any more.
Secondly, the dialogue between the characters seemed stiff and awkward at times, especially with the various ellipses and the many explanations given through the dialogue instead of natural conversation between two new characters just acquainted with one another. Other times, the dialogue seemed a bit too formal or repetitive in more minor instances.
Otherwise, I liked the animations, the colorful art for the different scenes, rooms, and characters, and the relationship between the protagonist and Rosim, who appears to be a possible love interest.
Although, I noticed how Rosim’s background remained the same, no matter the room she was in. The color of the background could change, depending on what room she’s in for any given scene to denote she’s in a different place at least.
Thirdly, I felt like there was an overall lack of tension throughout the story where there could have been moments of conflict. Instead, those potential moments were quickly swept over by way of easy and quick solutions that completely sidestepped over events that could have challenged the main character and thus made for a far more interesting and compelling read.
Some examples include the main character digging the robot out of the pile of snow, the main character cooking soup for Rosim, and the main character looking for a particular item for Rosim later on in the story.
Those scenes could have held more weight, tension, and conflict if they were treated with more importance. Instead, every scene moved from one scene to the next, making it feel like I was moving through different events of someone’s day rather than seeing a buildup of events that led to a climax or change.
Ultimately, it felt like I was reading a story with very little stakes and conflicts when there were moments of tension. Yet, I couldn’t wholly invest myself in those moments with those circumstances being so underwhelming in execution.
Not only that, but more conflict could have been extracted from the story with the protagonist figuring out what to wear each day, since he didn’t expect to stay at Rosim’s place for a week.
However, I did like the moments of internal conflict from the protagonist’s nightmare to his fears around the crystal. I thought those moments were really well-done and well-written, and I wished there were more scenes like that.
Finally, I wasn’t a fan of the game menu screen. The main menu looks fine, but the game menu could go a long way in readability and being more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The history name text and the history text could be centered in the history log, too, which you can easily change under the history section in screens by changing their textalign to 0.5.
Finally, the snow could look more like snow than a blank, white screen on the side of the screen.
Overall, I give this a 6 out of 10. Good job! 😃😁