itch.io

Two people certainly offended me. Yuni called Aleksandar "anal" and Will called Aleksandar an "asshole".  So what? Did I complain? No. I tried to settle it like grown people between each other. But they both did complain to the organiser, like children complain to parents

Who do you think I made personal attacks towards? On the contrary - I've spent years practicing positive language, am a certified conflict resolution intermediary. How many times people like Earthbound and TheDevDork accused me? How many people have you seen who have handled accusations with such neutral tone?

You say SighTdesigns was very patient - I'm inclinced to think they are just very busy. I tagged them at least once and tried to defer back to them before the whole situation with interpreting the theme escalated.

Yes I am petty. That's exactly how I feel. People stomped on me. If I were to listen to certain people I would just give up on this project I've worked 3 years and on which I spent all the savings I had. People who bash this game for poor UI do not know how many iterations I've made. It's very difficult to create a mass product.

Peace

Thank you very much that you returned to this game considering that it's disqualified. 

Yes, there are problems with the game - I acknowledge. UPDATE - the problem with the hourglass in the middle happens only with Firefox. I found out now. Some users get blocked and tell me the game is horrible while others who use other browsers tell me the game is interesting. That is a web app dev's life :X

I read that you're not going to play again - just wanted to ask about your last play session - did you try the button "Assist me"? 

I also enabled the close button to allow people to skip. It's at the top right corner. It's not easily visible on purpose because I would rather that players use the assist.

Thank you and I wish you a bright day

Silencing a participant without giving them a chance to explain themselves 

+ disqualifyig their submission

+ removing the community topic

are the wrong way to handle conflict. 

If you don't have the time to moderate why did you organise this event?

Hey, I'll keep track of it. Looks like a promising game. Is that bachelors or masters degree? Is it a specialisation?

Excuse me sir/madam, please think about how the decision to disqualify me changes the culture of the jam: what message is being sent to others by banning the person who contributes most with constructive feedback and links to useful resources? What about Will? He joined the server late and as soon as he did he started trashing my game with extreme evaluations and making fun of me with unfounded accusations. By siding with him you may accidentally be sending the message that such behaviour is OK. It seems to me that you're seeing only the point of view of the person who complained... Where's the freedom of speech? I showed respect to every participant and have been trying to be positive. You can listen to the video I recorder - does that sound to you like a malicious person?

Please restore my submission to the jam. I don't mind being banned from the Discord server. You told me not to give up on my dreams right?

Thank you for your understanding. I wish you a bright day.

A heads up - the organiser wrote until Thursday

I get a sense that you're annoyed... I am frustrated too that people can't appreciate the ideas and stories because of technical issues. 

Yes, it was necessary to make a custom engine because what I'm doing is fundamentally different from what is out there publically. I would have to change so much in popular game engines that it's better to just assemble what is needed. There is a lot more to the menu than the story/choices window - most of it is hidden in order to gradually introduce the complexity (and flexibility) to the player.

The first time you play the game there are highlights for the book - that is the paid onboarding library . However it seems that recently there was some bug which makes it useless for rendering inside an iframe (how you see the conversation overlay). 

Why is it necessary to select the intention and affect after you click the button? Bingo! That's the most important question. Because the design goal and the implementation is such that for the second act of the story (or probably it's going to be a separate game) you would not have predefined choices. It would be free flowing conversation. 

The tree diagram can be zoomed with both the mouse scroll button and pinch (touch). I am trying to figure out how to display it on the whole screen.

This game serves as one big tutorial how to use the conversation system. This game really is just a wrapper for the system - every decision and design is around the system. Whatever game(s) I'm doing next are going to include the system. 

I would be very grateful if you can comment on the idea of choosing your own emotion/intention inside a social simulation comapred to reading a list of predefined options, picking one and moving through a linear story (even if it is branching).

Made it bigger. Plus the colour change from some days ago - to match the colour of the story text (as suggested by Systemfehler: Ich? comment). Is this better?

Thank you for playing. I can assure you - I am trying to make the UI friendly. What you see is the result of a few iterations after feedback. So - it was even worse before! :D

I've made a custom engine - there are many graphical issues I'm stumbling into which would not be the case if I had used a popular, stable game engine such as Twine. Well, that's the price we're paying for innovation... I apologise for the inconvenience.

"[ socialCapital gte 3 (2)]" <== means that the social capital needs to be greater than or equal to 3 (currently it is 2). Yeah, I acknowledge that it needs to be more clear, preferably in the form of a sentence.

"the UI of the interact screen" - which one do you mean? For selecting the affect? The intention? Something else?

Besides the story, I am hoping that people just play around with the menus - you can see a unique representation of emotional states + categorisation of intentions which should be useful in any situation. I think those are valuable in and of themselves.

I'm not a dog owner so I'm probably wrong about that.

Hey, I played it again. Here are the extracts that gave you away :P
"Jesse looks content: yep, some ears have been scratched.

I gently help her to get to bed...

I am sitting on my bed. Jesse already snores softly.

Jesse woofs in her sleep: I hope she is having some sweet dreams about a meatloaf. Or two.

Good night, little bun."

The way they are phrased - it's kind of obvious it is written by a woman. Whereas the character is a male. 

I don't have a problem with it. You can leave it as it is. Just sharing my observation.

Yes, why does it matter? Good question. It just broke the immersion a bit for me. I was thinking: Wait, who was the protagonist again? Was it a male or female? Maybe it's just me.

BTW I was thinking again - I have the impression that the story has good quality to it. I would read it or experience it. But not in this format.

Which reminds me what I heard from a professional game dev once - you have to be careful with nostalgia. <== it can be amazing to create a game for a platform you played as a child. Maybe the case of a dream come true. But you need to think - maybe that would restrict the potential audience too much? Maybe it would be too niche?

Glad I can contribute.

Aha! I knew it! ... How did I figure it out? With a focus on small details and the presence of a lot of words for tenderness it just feels too "soft". Whereas a male person would have a more "tough" love. Apologies for the stereotypes.

I tried to play the game again to give you some specific examples but it crashes on me right now. I'll try to write another comment some later time. 

Hmm, interesting - I searched if horror movies/games can be good for mental health. Turns out - there are some positive results. It may be a sort of exposure therapy. When it is done well.

Hey, I saw that you participate in the Psyche Game Jam - that is wonderful. I do see some mental health ideas in the story and characters. 

That is an admirable goal that you have.

However I cannot help but think that SPOILER the gruesome horror that presses the protagonist and is the cause of her sleep paralysis is disturbing. Usually with therapy it's supposed to be a safe environment. So maybe the idea of a horror game is incompatible with a therapeutic experience. You're sort of adding disturbance. Yes, you remove it later but it is nevertheless more stress, not less. Does that make sense?

Thank you for sharing your journey. It's very interesting. 

I did find the story was pulling me in and I was already beginning to form questions. But yeah - when I wrote resolution I meant the pixels. It can be a bit painful on the eyes to read (to me at least) - I certainly would not go on for 2 hours.

Yeah, it's amazing that you still worked on it this year. That's dedication! I wish you the best of luck!

Hey, just read that you're finishing your university. Good luck!

Please add a comment here when you expect to release the game.

Ah, I see. I'll give it a try then.

I saw harvest mentioned as one of the puzzles. But that's about as much of the theme of the jam as I saw.

The text is not contained within the buttons and it is a bit difficult to read.

Why is the chosen option rendered as if it the sheet of paper is torn in two? It kind of makes the choice feel wrong...

The feedback at the end is too little - it doesn't feel satisfying as an ending. It doesn't feel like closure.

Actually I suggest that you give feedback either after every decision or every once in a while. As it is currently it seems like a series of questions which are not related...

You have built good foundations. There is a lot more work to do. Good luck!

Now that I think about it - the game's story is not related to the jam's theme: "harvest". The rules of the jam require that the theme is present in some way. 

Mining is different from harvesting. Mining involves extracting non-renewable, geological resources (like minerals, metals, and fossil fuels) directly from the earth, whereas harvesting refers to gathering renewable, biological resources (like crops, timber, or fish) that grow and replenish over time.

Interesting game. I ran it twice and it is very unclear what is happening. The plot feels very disjoint.

"Team you grew with all you dreams alike until that check was sign" <== this is such a weird sentence that it sounds like it is AI generated...

I checked - Whimtale engine was released just a few months ago. It's cool that you decided to use it.

It seems that there is much to work on to make the story feel cohesive. Good luck!

Interesting demo, thank you! The art style is top quality! The game has potential.

However the story is not related to the theme of the jam: "harvest", which is required. From the game itself "a parasite that feeds on your fear" <== this is not harvesting, but leeching. Harvesting is the active gathering of mature crops, resources, or energy for a positive, often sustainable use. Whereas leeching, is the draining of resources—often passively, unethically, or to the detriment of the host or source—giving little or nothing back.

Thank you for taking the time to write. I appreciate it.

Yes, I think I understand better now what you mean. I'll keep working on adding audio-visual feedback.

Wow, this game was released 2 years ago!

I'm not a fan of really small resolutions. Especially when the setting is supposed to be during a highly advanced future... Having said that - I did play around 30 minutes.

I don't think the story is related to the game jam's theme: "harvest" in any way. There is some digging in the game but that is excavation. The rules of the jam are that the theme has to be present in the game's story. 

It starts with too much exposition. You might want to listen to Hepler/look at in this GDC talk. It's preferable to break the exposition into segments related to: what > why > how > where

The character says - "now to the next site". But the player still needs to go through the usual selection and confirmation. The logic is there to track what has already been done but it's not used to assist the player.

Good luck!

Nice game, thank you. 

It's a risky decision to tell the story from only one side of the conversations but it worked out. 

Although it remains a mystery what caused moving in to a different place. I guess [SPOILER] the belongings of a male who was close to the protagonist are still packaged because he is not there, maybe some accident happened. Maybe that is why everything besides the plant is black and white - because the protagonist is depressed and struggling to find meaning? That's good environmental storytelling.

Sure, the plant grows but not the protagonist it seems. Essentially the protagonist is mute and it is not clear what s/he feels or thinks. It's sort of vicarious existance through the plant. Maybe the plant is a metaphor for the protagonist? Maybe as the plant blossoms the protagonist heals? It's too vague...

In terms of story plot - it's too little: outside of the plant care, switching between three scenes  about everyday actions being repeated. Probably that's intentional but not especially interesting. With so little context the game is too predictable and there is no sense of closure or ending.

You can definitely expand the game with more backstory and possibly some ending. Good luck!

The story of the game has nothing related to the theme of the jam - "harvest" whatsoever.

I'm not a fan of shooters nor zombies so I didn't play this game. Just being honest. 

Good luck!

A pleasant read - thank you. The art evokes feelings of warmth, comfort. It would be nice to include some characters besides scenery.

There is a noticeable lack of character development - why does the protagonist get involved in the investigation? Maybe you can add some tension - for example the classic conflict wants/needs.

Good luck!

I began the game but bumped into technical issues: it seems if a different button from "E" is pressed at the beginning, advancing is not possible. Also - it seems that the protagonist can jump off the rock at the beginning - might want to limit the movement for the intro.

With the tactical UI - the notification "Press K to cancel an action" is at the edge of the screen. When trying to select an ability the menu is outside of view.  <== these may be because I'm using an ultra wide monitor. Just to let you know.

I got stuck after defeating the surprise attacker.

I'm passionate about stars, celestial navigation, astrobiology and all that. Thank you for this game!

The story has nothing to do with the theme of the jam "harvest" whatsoever.

It's good that you added validation of the player's input for the name (defaults to Alice).

Dawn says northeast but the arrows are four directions, not eight. It can be confusing which direction to go first.

I did count a few times where the player is presented with choices which are just an illusion: 1) rest or head for the summit, 2) follow the map or not, 3) follow Dawn or leave the forest. That is disappointing! It's more respectable to guide the player instead of present such "choices".  Maybe 2 was funny in the way "Please" is added to the text. But overall you should avoid this technique.

"It's not like I would miss the chance to get rich" <== maybe the player has another motivation to search. It's better to ask what the player desires (as free text input or as a list of a few options) OR just default to "practice my new navigation skills".

The words waxing and waning should be quoted, not their translations.

A lot of language errors:

The weather's today perfect <== The weather's perfect today

an seasonsed mountaineer <== a seasoned

won't get lost too <== lost either

before get going <== before we get going

go to an adventure like this <== go on an adventure

we could've missed the change <== would've

have one in minde <== in mind

life in other planets possible <== on other planets

impossible in it <== on it

the times becomes <== the times become

I hoped your learned something new <== I hope you learned

What does even happen <== What even happened? or What did just happen?

fell near us and cause an explosion <== caused an explosion

we're just caught by <== we were caught by

that did not really help our situation <== does not really

now points at west <== points to the west

learned it on you own <== your own

Orion is an is an <== repetition

And because of that it takes a follows a wide arc <== same wording immediately after each other

it's already heading going down the west <== similar wording immediately after each other

On the other hand Big Dipper <== on the other hand should be used after on the one hand. It's more suitable to use "whereas" or an alternative

can be called as the <== called the 

have you watched meteor shower <== a meteor shower

I know perfect spot <== the perfect spot

with an onobstructed view <== unobstructed

we've just arrive at <== we've just arrived

the perfect time where <== time when

shower it's at it's peak <== shower is at its peak

all of a sudden it always gets <== it usually gets

is clear as day <== is as clear as day

here should fine <== should be 

never failed to impress me <== never fail to impress

countless of times <== countless times

Have you make your wish? <== Have you made your wish?

I've doze off <== I've dozed off

putting your faith onto something <== faith in something

I've wished for both of us in all the shooting starts <== for both of us with each shooting star

I didn't forgot <== didn't forget

get you out of here from this forest <== repetition

now we're at this place 

go straight foward from here <== straight ahead

what is it that why you can't <== what is it that you can't OR why is it that you can't

I miss seeing trace of <== the trace of

what's this a poster? <== this - a poster? OR what's this poster?

Good luck!

I guess you can say that we agree to disagree. ;) 

I do agree that a game can (maybe should) be about many topics/themes. But a narrative has to have some message and that shapes the length, content and form. I think only a simulation can be said to be about all the things it represents in equal measure.

Thank you for the game and good luck!

Thank you for playing! 

Noted about the visual presentation - still have not styled the modal pop ups and it's missing close up portraits with facial expressions. Maybe that would add a lot more immersion.

The fullscreen button was available before but due to inconsistent behaviour of some UI elements I disabled it. Maybe after some more tuning and playtesting it can be enabled again.

I'm curious about the choices-mechanics-outcomes: what is missing currently that is does not feel connected?

Hey, I managed to play through it! Great work!

I think that with more guidance for the player the game is going to offer a much smoother experience. Right now there's a lot of trial and error. Some players might not be patient enough to discover the whole game.

It was not clear which flowers can be harvested or how to harvest them. I'm surprised that before your instructions below I didn't just wait for 2 seconds on top of a flower. I guess I expected that it would be an action. The only time I noticed the wings as you mentioned is on top of the big flowers. For the smaller flowers the animation happens too fast.

Another source of confusion for me is that the same button which is used to hit is also used to talk... To me at least that does not make sense. Yes, to advance through the announcement by the queen at the beginning the player needs to press the hit button. But the announcement is triggered automatically upon entering the room. There is no tutorial that in order to start a conversation the player needs to press that button. I didn't even think of "hitting" the other bees in the hive. I found out much later (before the queen suggested speaking to all the bees) only because there are two buttons and only one of them is active in the hive.

For example - SPOILER when the warrior bee instructs how to do a dashing attack it would be better to lock the room and only unlock it after the player makes such a move.

The word style of the queen is a bit too poetic maybe? It makes her sound more human than insect. Well, that is my personal opinion.

ambassador of the water tribe <== that was funny. 

Thank you and good luck!

Right, I ran the game again - I just placed the dolls and left the tab open. I assumed correctly that there is some internal clock which moves time forward, it is not based on player input. Looking at the console log I guess that clock would be the PhaseManager.

I was wondering before your comment whether or not the parent and the child being in the same room would matter.  It is actually much more - you keep track of how close the figures are, if they move or not. Additionally there are two other factors which I can't make out what they represent: externalisation and tension.

The mask at the end may be a bit too abstract - it would help to label the top/middle/bottom sections and let the player know why they are the way they are. I didn't even think that the mask is not a single piece of art but a combination.

Now that I uncovered these I'm even more intrigued by the psychology behind the system! Excellent ideas. I think this can be a fantastic tool for child psychotherapy. Have you considered such a use?

This game has a unique environmental narrative system. I don't think there is much in terms of story progression (plot) and character development. The design obviates the need for those - instead the system reflects the player's current psychosocial state. 

For me this game has a lot of potential. You should keep working on it! Good luck!

I saw the empty notifications again - they happen in the morning. Maybe the DayEventTextDisplay - I'll paste the log here:

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_Please...just be Silent optionalText='Please... just be quiet already!' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] Show text='Please... just be quiet already!' | activeInHierarchy: True | canvasGroup.alpha before fade: 0.00 | canvas: UIOverlayCanvas order: 20 | sizeDelta: (100.00, 100.00) | path: UIOverlayCanvas[self=True,hier=True] / DayEventTextDisplay[self=True,hier=True]

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_NewScreaming ahh optionalText='' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] no text, sound-only event (eventName=DayEventData_NewScreaming ahh)

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_Allone optionalText='Because I am all alone.' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] Show text='Because I am all alone.' | activeInHierarchy: True | canvasGroup.alpha before fade: 0.00 | canvas: UIOverlayCanvas order: 20 | sizeDelta: (100.00, 100.00) | path: UIOverlayCanvas[self=True,hier=True] / DayEventTextDisplay[self=True,hier=True]

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_Eat optionalText='Let's eat... together.' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] Show text='Let's eat... together.' | activeInHierarchy: True | canvasGroup.alpha before fade: 0.00 | canvas: UIOverlayCanvas order: 20 | sizeDelta: (100.00, 100.00) | path: UIOverlayCanvas[self=True,hier=True] / DayEventTextDisplay[self=True,hier=True]

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_Newglass optionalText='' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] no text, sound-only event (eventName=DayEventData_Newglass)

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_NewScreaming ahh optionalText='' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] no text, sound-only event (eventName=DayEventData_NewScreaming ahh)

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_Silence optionalText='' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] no text, sound-only event (eventName=DayEventData_Silence)

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_cookies optionalText='Come, let's bake some cookies.' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] Show text='Come, let's bake some cookies.' | activeInHierarchy: True | canvasGroup.alpha before fade: 0.00 | canvas: UIOverlayCanvas order: 20 | sizeDelta: (100.00, 100.00) | path: UIOverlayCanvas[self=True,hier=True] / DayEventTextDisplay[self=True,hier=True]

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_talktosomeone optionalText='Maybe... we should talk with someone.' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] Show text='Maybe... we should talk with someone.' | activeInHierarchy: True | canvasGroup.alpha before fade: 0.00 | canvas: UIOverlayCanvas order: 20 | sizeDelta: (100.00, 100.00) | path: UIOverlayCanvas[self=True,hier=True] / DayEventTextDisplay[self=True,hier=True]

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] OnEventFired eventName=DayEventData_NewKitchencrying optionalText='' | activeInHierarchy: True

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

[DayEventTextDisplay] no text, sound-only event (eventName=DayEventData_NewKitchencrying)

webbuild.framework.js.br:10:37699

I am circling around the only flower that I could find and nothing happens.... 

(the attached image is of a pink/red flower. If I press X a notification pops up: "We tolare your presence in our domain. Do not dare to touch the sacred bloom.")

I like the idea and I think the execution is well made. However I don't understand how to control what is happening or what should happen and how much control the player has? 

How does time pass? Is it an internal clock or based on player actions? 

I see some notifications pop up - sometimes they are empty. They seem to be triggered at random... 

Please advise.

I would like to check out the whole game but I can't figure out how to drink/collect nectar. Please advise.