This game is in early development and I am very very happy with what I got so far with it being my first big game with online features! So any feedback would be amzing https://likeaninjamedia.itch.io/green-horizon
This game is in early development and I am very very happy with what I got so far with it being my first big game with online features! So any feedback would be amzing https://likeaninjamedia.itch.io/green-horizon
Hi! I tested your game yesterday and nearly reached farm lvl 5 and wrote the things that stood out for me:
The prompt for calling the farm name is centered to the text box but it shows over the rest of the "What will you call your farm" text, over the "ll your farm" part to be precise, i expected it to not hide or make any other text in the text box less readable.
The text box in the inventory menu for "Seeds", "Buds" and "Plots" are not aligned the same, the size of the "Equipment" text is not the same as other text and isn't very pleasing to see.
When clicking the "Build" option in the inventory, the Build menu appears, but after choosing either the "Move Object" or the "Pick up Object" option, a small dark rectangle appears at the bottom right side of the screen with nothing written on it.
I cant interact with any other building or the pond after that, only with the phone with no issue. When i hover near it, the opacity of the rectangle change, implying that clicking on it does something but it only makes the rectangle disappear with nothing happening, i can interact with the buildings and the pond just like before this event.
When clicking on a object i can move in the game like the "Planter" the menu for changing it's place appear but the position of the object is a bit under where it should be, and a little more to the right also, making it weird at each change of position, even if getting more used to it. Also the menu "Rotate(R)" has a change of opacity when hovering over it, expecting that the item will rotate and kept inside the moving state, but it only drop the item where the cursor is, not being able to interact with the "Rotate" menu or making the item rotate by clicking on the box seems more expected.
Placing "Planters" on the side of the garden where the pond is is possible, but it seemed not at first, since the grass at this place was restricted by the pond
When planting a seed, i can interact with buildings, going inside their respective menu and also move other object like the "Planters", i expected that i was only limited to place the seeds or exit the planting state
When moving an object, if i click on the rotate box, it places the object where the mouse is, but also it seems that it keeps the game in the moving item state, while being able to still access buildings and other things like planting seeds. I can move object by just clicking directly on them instead of going to the "Move Object" menu.
If i try to plant seeds in this state, it just grab the object with the seed still in hand, making it impossible to plant the seed. If i hold a planter this way and click on top of another one, i can plant a seed inside the one that is under it, i can also place a planter on top of another in this state.
To exit this state, clicking the black box with nothing in it while inside the "Pick Object" or the "Move Object" menu seems to fix it. I had this interaction before planting a seed so i thought that i couldn't do it, or that the way to do so was not intuitive and not well explained.
When a seed is planted, if i click on another tab of my navigator it freezes the game timer, i hesitated if it was voluntary or no, since i thought the game was similar to an idle game with the waiting i think that having the game timer runs even when not the principal tab better
The sprite for the bushes at the border of the screen is cool for the one at the bottom, but the rotated sprite for those at the right and top side seem out of place, even if a bit funny
When a plant has finished it's growth and is ready to harvest, adding a notification telling the player that it's finished would be a good thing, since the sprite for the finished plant state was not telling enough.
Inside the "Orders" menu, having the number that the player has of the asked item somewhere in the window would be cool and avoid loss of time, comparing to have to close the phone menu, and going to the inventory building, then the "Buds" menu, the same could be applied when buying seeds in the shop, having a line like "Current (number) under the item or something like it, instead of counting the numbers of seed the player buys in their head.
The well seemed like an interactable building doing something but clicking on it does nothing, i don't know if i missed something about it or if it's just in the decor but it felt like it would be useful for something.
The "Mail' menu on the phone add no mail at all during my playtime, if no mails are able to be received for now i think having a "Coming soon" text appearing like for the pond or the greenhouse seems better, for now i expected to receive a mail after the tutorial mission or an order but it never happened
The "Dry rack" item seemed not like an interactable item, for me it was a decoration and not an actual important feature of the game, it being inside the "Equipment" menu felt wrong for me, even if i thought that i just wasn't well instructed about gardening. I only discovered it when i had an order that required High grade bulb by luck.
At first i thought that since it was called "High grade" it was a low chance of having it instead of a regular bud after the growth of a seed.
Maybe having the interactable building and items that are used for the main gameplay loop of the game having a little light colored shape showing when hovering over them be useful to know what they are for directly would help avoid that confusion.
The exp gained after completing an order seems too low until getting new features of the game. only 10 exp per order when 200 xp is needed for to get from lvl 3 to 4 is a bit too much, especially when i can only plant 1 type of seed. Either having the exp gained depending on the amount of seed asked in the order and more exp for a high grade bud compared to a regular one since it requires one more step, or lowering the amount of exp needed for lvl up.
When choosing to place an item in the game like a seed or a planter, the image of the item sometimes goes under the model of the pond and the fences but not others.
The plant sprite changing matching its growth is cool, and so the sprite of the "Dry Rack" changing when something is drying on it
The gameplay loop is simple but it's works well, adding maybe some sounds when planting seeds, collecting plants, delivering orders and leveling up could add to the experience and enhance the feeling of achievement and reward for the player. Curious to see what the greenhouse will be useful for and the gameplay around the pond too!
I had a fun time and the most important things for me would be the growth timer like the other said and the bug i encountered with the seed in the Moving Object state that could make the player confused
I never actually tested a game to help the creator like here so i hope it's not too much and it doesn't sound rude or overwhelming.Good luck and i'll keep an eye on it!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed review. It really means a lot, especially as this is the first public playtest for Green Horizon.
You've pointed out a lot of useful bugs, UI issues, and quality-of-life improvements that I'll be working through over the coming weeks. It's feedback like this that helps make the game better.
Just to mention, this playtest was running in the browser, so a few things (like timers pausing when changing tabs) are limitations of the browser version rather than how the downloadable version will work.
I'm really glad you enjoyed the gameplay loop, liked the plant growth stages, and are interested in seeing where the greenhouse and the rest of the game go.
Thanks again for playing and for all the feedback. I hope you'll come back and try the next build!
Hi! Sorry for the late feedback; I tried to sort the things I had to say into categories!
Progression:
- The workbench is necessary to progress on the main gameplay loop, but it's a bit hidden since it's in the upper right corner of the screen, where nothing else really happens. Adding something to explain where the main use places are at the beginning of the game would help with that. A small tutorial on the first order, sort of.
- I got confused on the second main mission; it says to "accept your first order", and then "sell 5 bagged Northern Light seeds". I wondered if I could do it directly, but the first order was to sell 3 high-grade Northern Light seeds, and I was forced to do it first. I think adding a check to "finish your first order" between "accept your first order" and "sell 5 Northern Light seeds" could help prevent the confusion I encountered.
- I don't know if the amount of money in the starter mail is planned to have the same amount of seeds each time exactly for the first mission, but with what I've pointed out above, I got to a point where I prayed that the last seed I bought would be High Grade for me to deliver the order and unlock myself. I also don't know how many seeds the dry rack takes and what it does exactly; I think it takes one seed and makes it High Grade? I think making its use and how many seeds it takes would be clearer for the player.
- After the second main mission, the message says to check for a mail from my Uncle, but when I go into my mail, there are no new ones. I don't know if it doesn't exist, or if it's a bug.
UI:
- When planting seeds, after planting one seed, the image of the seed stuck to the mouse doesn't disappear, even if I don't have a planter left. The only way I got rid of it was by planting all the seeds I had left. Maybe having the menu of the inventory stay and not disappear when wanting to plant seeds could fix that?
- The text for the reward of the main mission goes past the phone screen and under it; I don't know if making the text smaller would be a great idea to fit everything in; it would probably be unreadable. Maybe having an option to show the text in a bigger window would help there.
- In the shears mini game, the interaction between the mouse and the shears is a bit clunky. If I try to spam-click on the screen, the shears have trouble being consistent on where they go. Also, the hitbox to validate the circle is not tied to the shears but just the mouse, so it doesn't feel as satisfying as I thought it would. Try fixing the interaction with the shears and the mouse; maybe get rid of the sprite of the mouse, and tie the hitbox of the mouse to the center of the blades of the shears, which would make it smoother?
- I don't remember the bank app on the phone being there last time, but I think it would be better to always see our money somewhere on the screen, without needing to go there each time before planning to buy something.
- Closing the phone requires the player to click on the round button specifically, which is a bit tedious each time; maybe just clicking anywhere else on the screen or clicking again on the phone icon could suffice to close it?
- In the workbench, the text for the output is on the same line as empty bags; I think putting it one line under it instead would be clearer.
- The sprite for a normal and High Grade seed is the same; just adding some sparkles or a tiny thing showing the player it's better than a regular one on the sprite would be great and avoid making sure the player picked the right one directly, without needing to check its type in the text above.
- After the second main mission, when I completed all the steps, I think the text under rewards claimed is updated. The text "message from Uncle" seems to have a different font than the rest of the text; it looks odd.
- If the mail from the Uncle doesn't exist yet after the second main mission, adding something to say that it's the end of the main progression of the demo mission-wise would be clearer for the player.
Sound and Music:
- Adding sounds to things that are in the main gameplay loop: buying things, planting them, drying them, bagging them, delivering them.
The two most important ones for me are for the car and when buying things: I expected the car to have one; delivering an order should be rewarding and special, and the sound of the car could amplify the feeling of accomplishment, I think. The same goes for when buying things; it's empty when you buy multiple seeds in a row, for example.
- Having a small music when playing, even if the sounds are a welcome addition, still feels mostly empty right now without it for me.
Great additions and fixes:
- Most of the issues with the text I pointed out got fixed.
- The animation when planting a seed and changing state instead of just switching to its next sprite.
- The pop-up saying it's ready to be cropped(adding it to the Dry rack would be great too).
- The mini game is a great idea and will be greater after the fix with the shears.
- The trees sprite on the right border is prettier than before, and I don't know if you decided to zoom in on the field or just removed the trees on the other borders, but it's clearer and prettier this way.
- With all the new things, I wasn't paying close attention to the money and EXP gain(which is a great thing, in a way; I was absorbed with the management), but it seems more generous in the money gain. However, the EXP still felt a bit long to get; I wanted to play until I reached level 5 to unlock the new type of seed, but it felt long, especially to unlock the first new addition to the gameplay loop.
QOL:
- It's not really important, but since the player only has 3 dry racks, in the early game when the player only has Northern Light seeds, it can be quite long to get the Higher Grade ones.
- In the future, adding some decorations the player can put in the farm, maybe?
I think that's all the things I noticed. I'm glad to see the builds of the game improve and would gladly help again on the next one!
Some more things I forgot:
- On the UI, I think it would be great if the player could see the amount of each type of seed they got in the shop; right now, the player still needs to go check the inventory to be sure they have the amount they want.
- The other thing was that after maybe my 5th delivery, the car wouldn't show up; the delivery would be done, but the car never did its animation.
- I think the fertilizer and the water can should still be equipped after using it on one seed; if I want to do it to 6 seeds, it takes quite some time to go into the inventory each time.
And it's everything for sure this time!