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michyo15 days ago

This game surprises and excites you right from the title screen. This's beautiful…

I started playing with high expectations, but it was so dark that I couldn't read the instructions. The game screen was dark as well, so I paused the game and read the comments, which made everything clear. This really drives home the importance of offering a downloadable version.

I'd like to say, "Since fixing bugs that interfere with gameplay is the bare minimum and doesn't violate the Jam's rules, please release a patch soon..." but I understand you're currently on a travel. I can empathize with your frustration right now.

I believe that eventually I'll be able to play a more polished version, so I'm looking forward to it and will wait patiently (even after the jam is over). 🙂

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Studio Ratio14 days ago(+1)

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. Your comment really means a lot to me, especially knowing that the game made a strong first impression before the visibility issue got in the way.

I’ve arrived in Austria now, and I’m planning to properly investigate the issue once I return to the hotel tonight. I don’t want to promise that I’ll have a perfect fix immediately, since I still need to identify exactly why the deployed build looks so different from the local version.

But I’m going to do my best to get the game back to the way it was actually meant to be seen and played.

I’ll post an update as soon as I have a version that I’m confident is genuinely improved. Thank you for being willing to give it another chance — I really appreciate it. 🙂

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michyo14 days ago

I gave it another try. It's no longer too dark, so it's actually playable now✨

I didn't make it all the way through, but I did complete the tutorial and Stage 1. I fully understand the game's appeal now. The world-building is great, and the music is fantastic. Even the cutscenes in between are wonderfully cinematic. However, I still didn't quite grasp exactly how to trigger Resonance without fighting. If there's a way to do that, I'd definitely like to try it.

I found the “OK” button on the hint box difficult to click. There are rarely moments when the player is completely stationary, and since the box moves along with the screen scroll, the OK button moves with it. There were several times when I thought I'd clicked it, but it was no longer under my mouse cursor… It might also be because my machine is underpowered and the game was running slowly.

It's strange that, even with all these lavish features, I still feel the same sense of wonder I did when playing well-crafted boxed games from the early days of the PC.

I only played partway through, but I had a wonderful time. I'm sure I'll come back to play it again. 🙂

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Studio Ratio14 days ago

Thank you so much for coming back and giving the game another try! I’m really happy that you were finally able to experience it properly. 🙂

About Resonance — you actually understood something that I probably didn’t explain clearly enough in the game.

Resonance is my interpretation of the second theme, “Buddy.” It works somewhat like a mercy route: instead of defeating an enemy, you can choose to build trust with a creature that initially misunderstands you as a threat.

It is intentionally more difficult than simply defeating enemies.

You should avoid attacking them, because every hit reduces their trust in you. The default weapon, Knife, is manually aimed, so the simplest way to trigger Resonance is to stay near an enemy for a while without damaging or overlapping with it.

There is also an unintended problem with this system: as you acquire more elaborate weapons later in the game, some of them attack automatically. That can accidentally damage an enemy you are trying to befriend and sabotage your own Resonance attempt. 😭 I definitely want to improve this interaction in a future update.

So the idea behind Buddy was essentially:

“This time, you can choose to become friends with the enemies who misunderstood you.”

And I’m also sorry about the hint boxes. They frustrated quite a few people — including me while testing the game.

My original reasoning was, “I’d rather make the tutorial a little annoying than leave players confused about how the game works.” But I think I pushed that idea too far. Not everyone needs that much assistance, and something designed to help the player shouldn’t become a second obstacle itself.

I’d like to add a way to disable further hints manually, and also make the interaction with them much less intrusive.

Finally, thank you — genuinely — for playing and for giving such thoughtful feedback.

One of the reasons I joined this jam, and why I hope to keep participating in future Ultimate AI-Powered Game Jams, is that I really appreciate the depth with which you experience and respond to our games.

Even while traveling, I wanted to work on the game because the game itself, the experience everyone has with it, and sharing this whole journey with other developers genuinely matter to me — just as spending this trip with my family does.

Seeing the game finally recover from this problem, while it was still not too late, was an enormous relief. This was probably the most nerve-racking development experience I’ve had so far, but in a strange way, it also became one of the most real lessons in game development I could have received.

Every Ultimate AI-Powered Game Jam has taught me something new and pushed me a little further than before. And being surrounded by developers who create, struggle, learn, and share that excitement together is a big part of why I want to keep coming back.

Thank you again for giving Thirst for Oxygen another chance. 🌊

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