This game was unbelievably adorable; a great, affective little narrative that was perfectly reflected in the key interactions we had with the world. I really enjoyed the narrative reasoning behind the monsters and how you managed to tie that into the narrative in a very meaningful way--making them both an obstacle for the gameplay and the story.
The design was simple but effective, the music cute and the sound design very strong. Overall I'm floored by how complete the experience felt especially considering it's done for a jam. While it did seem quite similar to Blackbird (not sure if you played it, was made for the Blackthornprod game jam a month ago) it definitely held its own in terms of mechanics and narrative.
A few thoughts I had while running through:
- The mechanics of platforming felt a bit abstracted away from the main narrative of the game and the whole journey down and back up did get a little tedious at times. Not quite sure how I'd get around this, but worth noting.
- For me the dialogue was a little overwritten, with the themes shining through really beautifully but also being a tiny bit on the nose. I'd really say less is more there. I don't even think it's a question of the writing quality, as the lines were all convincing and characterful. Just a thing of perhaps being a little more selective and cutting down.
- I wasn't a huge fan of E being the main interact button; I would have preferred space or something. It made trying to do the book ability a bit tricky while jumping.
- The door button cutscenes became a little repetitve as you couldn't skip them.
- The character switch could have perhaps triggered a small arrow or outline on the selected character to make switching easier when the characters are closer together. [but this is super minor].
Those may seem like a few things, but I'm sure you can tell how minor they are in the grand scheme of things.
Absolutely overwhelmed by what you have put together here, and I can't wait to see your next project!
Also, I'd be delighted if you'd give my game a go as I think our mode of storytelling in this jam was pretty similar!