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A jam submission

Daisy-Dew: Dream DefenderView game page

Jam entry for Buddy Up Winter Jam 2023
Submitted by Guanomancer, Nikth, emstergoose (@thedreadwaffle), Tyde, abbycaliart, ArchivistOwl, stipes, AleksMcFly — 1 day, 6 hours before the deadline
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Daisy-Dew: Dream Defender's itch.io page

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I confirm that this game jam entry can be used promotionally by Budding Game Dev to showcase our team's efforts and Budding Game Dev events.

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Comments

(+2)

Baww this is such a lovely cute lil game and concept! <3 I loved the floppy pillow flumping around, and the kind of dual mechanics was a really cool approach

I wonder if this was developed further you could have little 'dream' artwork poofing out of the clouds when you catch them - like tiny vignettes of what the dreamer's seeing, rainbows and unicorns and stuff!

Submitted(+2)

I enjoyed playing your game, so far my highscore is 12700 (Difficulty ranking 13). I think the simple mechanics along with the level design allows for a good replayability. From my experience as a player, I could feel a sense of mastery the more I played, building a library of possibles paths, strategies, and so on. I would like having a short platform in the middle, connecting a litte bit more the left side with the right one (you can jump from right to left without touching the ground, but not otherwise).
I found a little bit weird the double jump at the beginning, since we're not able to jump on the middle of the air. I'll call it a short/regular jump and a long jump instead, many games have this mechanic, but they usually use another kind of input (not double tapping the spacebar, but basing the jump distance in the amount of time you press the button before releasing)
The music is pleasing. I couldn't tell if ther was a sfx for closing doors. For clarity, I would separate the current points and the game over countdown. The countdown could be some time of bar, or clock-like graphic. And alert the player the game is about to end, intensifing the nightmare visuals, or having the screen pulsating.
I didn't expect the pillow animation, it feels good and smooth. I liked both 2D and 3D art, they still have room to be more integrated.
Overall, excellent idea and execution ♥

Developer

Oooh, congratulations! I don't think I managed even half of that, haha. Thank you so much for your feedback, we appreciate it a lot!

Submitted(+3)

The music was delightfully soothing, though I thought the nightmare music could have been a little darker and faster tempo to contrast. Didn't think I'd say this, but the tumbling pillow animation was pretty well done. I felt like there was a missed opportunity to add more narrative to understand who Dewie is. Maybe little hints as to what his nightmares are about, or maybe whenever you closed a door, you learned something about how he conquers that fear.

Developer(+1)

Ack, yes, as one of the responsible ones for the narrative I couldn't agree with you more on this. Our time planning went out the window and ideas had to scrapped and so forth. But yeah, very good suggestions of yours! And thank you so much for playing.

Submitted(+2)

Loved the music and the background art especially the nightmare versions! And the thump of the pillow landing / the solidness of the pillow was weirdly very satisfying lol

Developer(+2)

Thank you I'm glad you liked the background art! :)

Submitted(+3)

very cute theme, i loved how the 2d and 3d art came together, fun gameplay loop as well!! i love being a pillow. 

Developer

Thank you so much for playing! I agree, being a pillow is very satisfying.

Submitted(+2)

I really enjoyed the game's aesthetic and presentation, the transition between dream and nightmare is really cool! I wish it was easier to double jump and if there was a way to join the stage together a bit more to make it feel more cohesive to travel around. However it was a very charming play!

Submitted(+2)

Beautiful piano music!  

Submitted(+2)

I really enjoyed the art, especially the 2D background and the idea that my pillow is defending me against nightmares at night is amazing! I have nothing to add to the other comments, some controls were a bit off but overall great job folks!

Developer

Thank you, that is really great to hear. :-)
Pillows are a humans best friend.

Developer

Thanks so much--I'm glad you enjoyed the art! :)

Submitted(+2)

Pleasant game, and pillow as a playable character is a very interesting take. The nightmare/dream transitions are cool too!

Maybe the pillow can have more character (Like eyes and mouth). And a lot can be done with the gameplay and level design in the future, moving platforms, changing levels, etc. Maybe a pillow dash?

Developer

Thank you. Yea it would have been nice with more time for Aleks to give the pillow a texture. I like the face idea. :-)

Submitted(+2)

Very cute concept as I would love to play as a pillow. One very standout problem is controls of the double jump, its pretty janky as you would need to tap the jump button twice in quick succession and cant really be delayed, it does give the controls the feeling of "pillow-like" but I think it would be better if it just changed to be a charged jump. However after i adapt myself to the janky jump, the game does feel very fun to play even in this just one level, so the fun essences are definitely there but just need to be polished a little bit more!

Developer

Thank you. The jump was a deliberate decision. I agree that id breaks with conventional platform logic and expectation. I'm glad you had fun, the team is really happy with all the feedback. :-)

Submitted(+2)

Cute art! I like the alliterative title and the overall theme. The dreaming parts felt a bit short (like you couldn’t get enough points to cover the nightmare phase) – more clouds or faster movement would probably help there. The double jump felt a bit awkward - I kept trying to jump again while I was higher in midair but it only seemed to work if you clicked space twice without any delay. It felt like it required a lot of precision because of how slowly the pillow moved. Different levels would have been fun too. Great idea though, nice job!

Developer

Thank you for the feedback, it's appreciated. :-)

Submitted(+2)

I like the art in this game, looks very dream like and the animations are all great (the pillow and level transition especially). I do feel like the 3D and 2D art didn't mix too well. I thought the gameplay could use some spicing up, maybe making the pillow move faster, have more clouds spawn in, and maybe the platforms and windows change positions once in awhile. Overall it was a unique, cute experience. Well done!

Developer(+1)

Thank you. :-) We wanted to add a bunch of features, but time said 'Nope'. ;-) Those are great ideas though.

Submitted(+2)

A striking idea that needs to be developed a bit more, some controls don't work as well or need to be adjusted. other than that, the concept and idea are stunning and this is really original

Developer

I agree, it would need at least another week to get the controls right and finish the gameplay and levels. Thank you for the feedback, I'm really happy you found it original. :D