Feedback / critique:
- Visuals: Dark on dark is usually not a good way to go. Your store page has dark blue on black, and your game had dark gray on black. My eyes are old and strain enough as it is, but even if they weren’t, this is bad practice…
- AI Use: So, this was very obviously done with AI. Using AI isn’t an issue, but I think you left too much to the AI here. An example: at the very top, you have your title “Ashen Garden” and then the subtitle “The ash remembers what the fire destroyed.” I don’t know why, but AI, particularly ChatGPT, seems to have a love for ‘remembers’, especially where it thinks it is being poetic. This is a bit forgivable, but then there is the gameplay. I am not sure that you playtested your own game - in fact, I am sure that you didn’t, otherwise you would have caught several other AI bugs that normally crop up when you aren’t careful, such as the needless toggling between showing empty patches and what is planted whenever the plants are selected, the unrealistic difficulty, the questionable appearences of ghosts that seem to do nothing, and just a general sense of incongruity, along with emoji use in place of real graphics, etc.
I’m looking at your profile, and I am having a hard time deciding if I should just disqualify this submission outright. I think the only reason I am not is because you obviously took the time to make the game for this jam. However, I think you have an overreliance on AI when it comes to AI games. I looked at some of your scratch games - your tag game, for example, is super creative and I think fairly well done, which makes this entry a little more baffling.
I get experimenting with AI - hell, my entry this week is an AI experiment. But I recommend taking some time - an hour, two, three even - to sit down and map out how everything should look and function in the game before ever prompting the AI - your results will be much better. I think that there might be some good creativity here - you’ve got ideas. But perhaps the process needs work.
No offense meant, but is English your first language? Your replies to others here are incongruous with your store pages.