itch.io

I found a lot of thought was put into this game so I wanted to play around thoroughly before leaving a comment.

I like that you touch on the topic of social anxiety - a feeling we all experience but only for some it is so intense that it needs special treatment. I'm assuming that the counter at the top, next to the heart, would increase too if the character takes a rest in a secluded corner of the level? Is that what the "Environment" indicator is for?

From what Ada says she sounds like she was inspired by Ada Lovelace. And just now I found out she (Lovelace) was a count! It all makes sense now. :D

I like that you broke the forth wall with Edmond - I did the same when time was running out. 

Fantastic! That's all I hoped for at this time.

To clear any confusion:

- the circles at the top are a representation of the progression of cognition and by extent - of the conversation. Regardless of the subject matter, understanding as a process operates in a sequence.

- the bar is the turn timeline. In Child of Light the longer part is the wait time and the shorter part is the cast time. The character executes the action at the end of the timeline. However for conversations it is more like the breathing cycle (in/exhale).  If I'm the listener the timeline works similarly to wait/cast but if I'm the speaker it's actually the opposite - talking is longer. The timeline is suitable for an interject/interrupt mechanic (probably as a quick time event), to be implemented.

- symbols for the needs flash twice. You need to respond to the most recent one. There are alternative designs for this - in Deus Ex they flash multiple times and you need to select the most frequent. That is because in DE there is voice acting and the duration of the turn is longer. For this game I selected the simpler way.

Hey, thank you - now that you wrote it I realised I did not do a clear enough explanation so I went back to the Itch page to update it.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the gameplay - that was really the main goal at this point in time.

Yeah, the stats can go over and below the limit - I just haven't figured out what he consequences of that should be...

Thank you for the encouragement - I am committed to developing this into a full blown social simulation. There's a lot more to the system that I've already tested in another application. I started building it from scratch to have a fresh perspective.

Hey, thank you for sharing your experience. I feel guilty about that bug... I've never hit it during testing otherwise I would have fixed it.

I see that you picked the female protagonist - glad that this option is useful to you.

Please note that the second NPC is the last conversation - you did not miss any content. I prepared a few more maps but kept spending too much time on context and worldbuilding instead of the actual gameplay so in the end I cut them out.

Did you enjoy the turn based tactical dialog gameplay itself?

A lot of playfulness with the design of this game - the title, the random sentences. It is hilarious. In a dark way.

I cannot say if it matters at all what is said - does it need to be based on the evidence? maybe if the goal is be comical then the timer sort of gets in the way? Another design challenge is that because only a part of the sentence is revealed it is difficult to make sense what happens next.

Thank you.

The animations are so slick - well done!

Interesting twist on the combat menu - the countdown makes the choice more random than selecting. The down side is - it can also be frustrating.

Congratulations - achievement unlocked! :D (first released game I can see on your account) 

I do like the story and the character sounds like your relatable everyday... elf? 

However the exposition may be a bit too much. This is a wonderful resource for how to provide it in a peacemeal way: 

Awesome game! The art is so nice - I like the style and the warm colors. 

The title of the game and the theme description are well thought. You have a feeling for marketing it seems. 

Good luck!

Thank you - it's a breath of fresh air to have a game without combat. You managed to do a lot with little, great execution!

Glad that you like it!

Oui, tu peux modifier les models mais tu ne peux pas utiliser d'autres qui ne proviennent pas de kenney.nl ou kaykit. Je pense: "Edit (recolor, crop, rotate, flip and scale) and combine assets"

See https://itch.io/jam/kenney-jam-2026/topic/6610129/is-custom-itch-page-art-allowe...

I'm glad to contribute in any way. You're welcome.

Ah, I didn't know it also means the next room - note taken.

At the time I left the review I played the game twice - first time was intuitive (reached the Flourishing ending) and the second time was intentionally all the bad choices. I am aware that the choices are locked out + the cool visual effects. 

Nonetheless, the representation of the capacity remains mechanically superficial. I look forward to find out how you evolve it for your newer projects.

Kind regards

Thank you for organising these events.  

I was recently thinking that something is flawed with the way a standard jam is organised, especially for the more popular ones. When I participated in a smaller jam it was possible to play most games in a thorough way (more than one play session from start to end) and give constructive feedback. For the more popular jams with hundreds of participants what ends up happening in my experience is some of the submissions become popular while the rest are left out. And in the end the top N grab all the attention.

Maybe it's better to split jams into smaller cohorts of 20ish projects? Small communities would form naturally.

As a developer, after I submit the game, no matter how good the feedback is, the possibility for repair and growth is frozen in time - I cannot update it during the voting period, after that period people lose most of the motivation to experience the other projects or to experience the same project again. This nudges people to create tiny experiences which are abandoned after the event.

Would it not be better to divide a jam in two phases - main phase, preliminary feedback phase and then final submission? That way any technical issues or critical design mistakes can be fixed. UPDATE I missed one key point - split the participants into groups with a maximum of 20 submissions in a group. Preliminary feedback within the group. Then create new groups so that only some of the participants are in the same group two times. Submission and final feedback. This would boost the engagement and improve the final products. <== how does that sound? It is not necessary to make the event longer - just segment it.

### DISCLAIMER ### Below are my 2 personal rules which I try to abide by when giving feedback. 1)  Always include what I appreciate about the game. 2) Only criticise when I have a suggestion on how to improve. Aleksandar is only a human, so he may violate them sometimes - please notify me and I'm going to correct myself immediately.

I believe in being very precise and in radical candor. Therefore my style of expression may be more direct, not using euphemisms or sugarcoating. Please remember that I put the effort into reviewing your game, my intention is to assist you, to contribute.

I would appreciate it if you could reciprocate by reviewing my submission and following similar rules. I don't expect it nor would I be disappointed if you don't. Feel free. 

########################

Thank you for this experience. It is ambitious that you target such a difficult topic. I get a sense that a lot of research has gone and a lot of effort was put into the design. The descriptions of the internal states are neutral and there are messages which give solace and hope. The result is an uplifting game - fantastic work!

The idea of the outcome modifying the starting state of the next run reinforces the idea of generations of people. Great design.

On the technical side of things, the representation of inner struggles with text only can only end up superficial. From my experience and when I've talked with people, when we make mistakes, when we do not self regulate our emotions, etc - it is often the result of failure: not because I made a bad choice but because I couldn't find or create the courage, the mental clarity etc that I needed to do better. When this effort is represented as a list of choices it is trivial to do the right thing. On the first playthrough I managed to get the Flourishing ending and it was easy. At best this may lead to breaking the immersion and at worst some people may interpret the game as being judgmental "Look how easy it is! How could you fail at this in real life?". 

Just to be clear - I'm not saying that the game should have been done in a different way. It's already designed and submitted - I'm not saying you should throw it away. It's great as it is. The message I'm trying to get across is that in the future if you would like to revisit this topic maybe you can try to represent it in a more technically complex way that is closer to the experience not just aesthetically but also - mechanically. A standard option to represent different experiences which are a smaller part of the overall game is to use mini games.

Good luck!

### LANGUAGE NOTES ### English is not Aleksandar's native language. Aleksandar has no formal experience as a teacher. I take notes while I play and I do notice small mistakes in language because for me they break the flow of reading. Therefore if you would like to have an outside opinion of your writing please read on. This practice is called proofreading / editing - even the best writers need it. #######################

"Your partner is sleeping next door." <== the phrase 'next door' actually refers to the front door of a separate building which is adjacent to this building. Maybe you meant to say that the two parents sleep in separate rooms, not separate houses?

Благодаря Ви, че сте избрали тези героични личности и сте се постарали да анимирате героите и да добавите гласови записи. Пожелавам Ви да има интерес от страна на деца и ученици.

Поздравления за планирането и изпълнението, така че да съвпадне с празника. Честит празник!

Като ваш колега - програмист, имам предложение как иновативната система за разговаряне "бесѣда", която разработвам може да допринесе за Вашата игра. Конкретно пример - как да се пресъздаде морална дилема? Когато научава за смъртта на Хаджи Димитър, първоначалната реакция е тъга/скръб - това е реакция на самият персонаж, играчът само е наблюдател на това. След тази автоматична реакция започва да брои таймер, при изтичането на който, протагонистът автоматично избира убеждението "Умря напразно". Докато тече часовникът играчът може да избере да регулира това емоционално състояние чрез мини игра. Ако се провали в играта - убеждението остава "Умря напразно". Ако играчът успее в играта - това води до убеждението "Тоз, който падне в бой". Тази процедура свързва повече играч-персонаж и води до усещане за постижение - превъзмогнах скръбтта и се съсредоточавам над великата цел. Това добавя и към обучителната стойност на играта - скръбтта и съжалението не се осъждат като отношението на слаб човек, а естествени. А регулирането на състоянието е полезно и нужно в реалния живот.

Този тип вътрешно регулиране може да се използва и за други моменти. Стандартното пресъздаване на морална дилема чрез избор между два контрастиращи варианта е твърде плоско и неангажиращо. Можете да видите основните механизми на системата в играта Conversatio Machina, която също е достъпна на itch.io. "бесѣда" предлага и още много повече - би било хубаво да обсъдим допълнително чрез лични съобщения. Ако имате интерес можете да намерите контактите ми от Itch профила.

В допълнение, ако ми позволите да направя следните предложения как може да подобрите настоящата версия като използвате това, което вече имате:

* Може би ако протагонистът минава пред другите персонажи тогава играчът ще остане потопен в преживяването.

* Като играч, който не знае колко дълга ще е играта, предпочитам да получа награда веднага, вместо пасивно да се трупа. С оглед на това, че продължавате да разработвате играта и е достъпно само част от съдържанието можете да промените малко изборите за умения-вдъхновения така че да бъде избор само между активни умения.

Играта има потенциал, ще я следя с интерес. Продължавайте в същия дух!

Hey, a fellow dev here! I can relate to these pains - I only got my first game out but it's after months of (re)doing things over and over again.

It's wise that you narrowed the scope - it is better to iterate than to hold until everything is perfect. Which piece of art is perfect? "the work is never completed, only abandoned".

What do you use for animation - sequence of still images or rigs?

When do you plan on releasing a playable version?

Good luck!

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

A heads up - the organiser wrote until Thursday

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. 

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.