itch.io

Hi! Thanks for playing!
No, you can't. But you can take the kid with you, if you wish.

Thank you for playing!
Well, they drown. You mean the animation looks strange? Or that there's no Try Again button, or something of the kind? I didn't try to make it look strange intentionally, it just... felt right, I guess?

Спасибо за отзыв! Всё так!

Эпизоды из Сказки сказок с коровой и скакалкой — прямой вдохновитель визуала для меня. Еще техника сухой игры.

Геймплей — шляпа. Сейчас активно работаю над превращением джемовой игры во что-то более законченное и цельное. Как раз ищу баланс между геймплеем и его отсутствием)

Спасибо за упоминание магазина. Я особенно люблю его) Визуально я его перерабатываю, но товары останутся и будут еще! Нанахиро интересный, не знал о нём, обязательно посмотрю.

Thank you!

Thank you! Great association)
I'm currently reworking many parts of the game for post jam version. But giant and jellyfish are definitely going to stay.

Just uploaded a new build with pretty important bug fixes. Please consider downloading once again, if you have already downloaded an old one. Sorry.

¡Gracias!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you! It's a precious reaction for me.

Thank you!

Thank you!

What an accurate simulator!

Завораживает, конечно!

Здорово, что каким-то странным образом формируется некая своя вселенная, по маленькому кусочку с каждой следующей небольшой игрой.

Мне эта игра ближе, чем Wurroom: гуще, темнее, больше похоже на Протеиновый Мотель, как я его себе представлял. А главное, чувствуется в игре фокус, сосредоточенность на чем-то своём. Как будто есть у неё жесткая сердцевина, на которую всё и налеплено.

Потрясающие совмещения пластилина с бытовыми предметами. Заколачивание двери вообще мой любимый эпизод. Ну и солнце, поедающее луну, конечно.

Мир такой жирный, плотный, настоящий, что его хочется потрогать. Мне всё время хотелось, чтобы у меня было больше таких возможностей. Например, чтобы надо было не только кликать, но и перетаскивать, размазывать мышкой, трясти, бить, крутить, подбрасывать.

Звук очень чоткий! Только его хочется больше: некоторые места кажутся немного недоозвученными. Например, на экране с тамагочи. И каждый раз выбивают моменты, когда звук прерывается между сценами.

Мне нравится заигрывание с тамагочи без настоящей механники тамагочи. Мне вообще близок отказ от геймплея. Но всё же... Я представляю себе иногда, если бы эта игра была ближе к настоящему тамагочи и в неё надо было бы играть неделями и месецами... Ух! Я бы сыграл в такое!

Было бы интересно почитать, посмотреть о том, как всё это делается.

I'm working on it in my spare time so I really can't say, when it could possibly be ready)

Thank you! It was very nice and useful to watch you playing my game.

There is some content further on — you can complete the maze and get to two other small locations. But, well, the level design was made in a big rush in the last hours of game jam and the maze appeared to be the worst part of it. I'm currently working on the extended and reworked version of it.

By the way, can you share the specs of your computer? It runs notably faster on mine and definitely needs some optimization.

Thank you for the review!

I've written a devlog post about implementing visual effects: https://bulboka.itch.io/im-safe/devlog/231330/visuals-implementation

Congratulations on great jam results!

Checked cinemanotcinema. Very interesting!

Thank you! It's a great feeling to see somebody playing my game. And definitely a useful experience: now I see my game's flows as clearly as never before.

Thank you so much! Your critique is right to the point, already working on it. And I'm so glad that you appreciated the aimless wandering part of the game.

Being short: your game is so good! It's a pity, I'm extremely busy these days but I'll definitely find some time to share my thoughts about it a bit later.

Thank you once again! Already rated your game. Sorry, I'm really short on time now( I've made some notes while playing, I'll share my thoughts as soon as I get round it. Good luck!

Thank you! You're right, the goals are quite unclear. You move from one house to another and see what changes around you.

Looking forward to play your game!

Thank you! I'll keep on working)
And I'm definitely going to check your game.

Thank you!

Looking great! Especially this weird kaleidoscope like effect.

Sound also added to the atmosphere.

Footstep sounds are a bit too sharp and loud. I think making them softer would make the whole game sound more cohesive and also it could add more creepiness. The piano melody sounded a bit too romantic, maybe something more mystical would fit better?

Puzzles are tricky and satisfying.

Thank you! Great that you mentioned the mouse control! I think, it's like a continuation of your hand piercing into the game and making it a bit less hm... digital.

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed the trees. It's one of my most favorite things in this project.

Hi! Thank you for your appreciation and useful advice!

Uh, it's not the first time I'm doing it wrong with the mouse leaving the play area. Thanks for the snippet!

And yeh, your game is already in my list)

It's really a pleasure to hear such words. You're encouraging me to keep on working on the post jam version.

Thank you for your feedback, it's valuable for my work. I'm currently struggling to find balance between guidance and freedom, strong emotional impact and playability.

Thank you! Being intrigued is a precious reaction. And yes, level design is rushed and undercooked, so getting lost and quiting the game is a healthy behaviour. Nice to see you here)

Oh, thank you! Looking forward to complete the post jam version after some time and will be glad to show it to you.

I'm really intrigued by the screenshots. I love when over the top adjusted photos are used in game graphics. Some Hylics flavor.

I think you can upload your fixed build somewhere and provide a link to it here in comments or even in the description. I think it's going to be fair. In the worst case you'll be disqualified. Which isn't worse than what you have now))) And honestly, I don't think it'll happen.

I like that you've chosen one strong feature, focused on it and made a solid consistent game around it. It's a big achievement for a game jam. Well done!

I'm talking about visual and audio presentation. From this side your game isn't only looking good but also feels complete and thought out from start to end. Some Gris influences can be seen, but in a good way. Your game definitely has it's own face.

Sound, designed especially to fit the intro sequence is something exceptional for a game jam! And those owls, wah!

I'm really impressed by the story. Told without one word, abstract enough to be enigmatic and give player some space for interpretation, yet concrete in its own way to keep player's imagination in needed direction.

From gameplay perspective I can't say I like it. Movement lacks fluidity, platforming is a bit clunky and combat doesn't really add anything to the game. Also it fits the theme quite weakly. But once again, clearly these weren't your priorities and I'm glad that you didn't try to do all things at once instead of doing few things really well.

If you're going to continue working on this project, I think it would benefit from removing everything distracting from its strong sides. For example, make platforming and combat less important and stressful.

And some minor details and suggestions just for your information.

Birds movement is stiff and jittery. Maybe use sine?

Placing camera a bit in front of the character is usually a good idea, but it has a downside: dizzily fast camera movement when the player is often changing the direction of movement. It was rather irritating.

Attacking with a mouse doesn't seem to have any sense if you're not using it to control attack direction. And running with a right hand would be much more convenient.

Implementing coyote time would be great. Especially considering uncertain logical shapes of platforms. I failed so many jumps because of pressing jump button too late.

Setting up hitboxes is hard for characters with such rich animations. Yet they definitely need some tweaking. I think, it's better to make them smaller.

Main character motion lacks inertia.

The moment of landing after jump feels too stiff and fast. Additional animation could fix it.

Anyways, thank you and good luck! I had pretty good time playing your game several times)

The smell of sweat and iron is just dripping out of my suddenly crt monitor.

It's impossible not to fall in love with the protagonist. That face, that walk, those gestures...

It's nice, that bros are called "lives" in hud.

Some balance tweaking would do good: when I had only three bros alive it became so easy that I could keep going forever.

And something's wrong with the game size. I can go to fullscreen only using itch button, and even then the game is cropped from top and bottom.

It's definitely my cup of tea!

Great comics artist Emmanuel Guibert once said: drawing is a game, because if we — artists —  won't play, then who will? I think it suits well to describe this game.

I, as a game creator, definitely learned something, while playing it. I want my next game to be like it!

I wonder, do you write anything outside games? Some zines maybe?

And yeah, this game once again shows how imperfect formal rating systems are.

The gameplay is remarkable!

I love how it combines skill based platformer with a puzzle game in a very organic way. You examine the level, measure distances, outline your path, make some assumptions about which places can be reached and which can't — pure puzzle. And then you try to implement it — platforming! Sometimes you fail at implementation, but sometimes your plan appears to be flawed and you have to change it on the run — motor skill and analytics at the same time. Exciting!

It's grate how subtle details like spikes being just one tile further or closer can totally change you run.

I see potential: usual platforming elements can open up in a new light when combined with your innovative core mechanic.

I'm sure thou that your gameplay and level design deserve a more thoroughly done presentation. The contraposition of small alive birds and huge dead machine is great, it's just not shown well enough.

It's hilarious!

Do you remember that tetris game in the plague village in Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail? When figures were made of dead bodies thrown into the hole and some of them were still alive? I haven't laughed this much at a tetris game since then!

It's anti-tetris in a way. The original game was about order and putting everything in it's place (even gave birth to "tetris effect" phenomenon). And this... Ah...

Especially I enjoyed the brute force tactics, when you just squish those poor bastards with space key till they start making lines.

A very enjoyable game, I say!

I appreciate the overall atmosphere. There were many brilliant moments, subtly humorous, mildly surprising and smart.

I like the naive graphics. Especially nice is the fact that you left "soft brush and fill" artifacts on purpose. I call it the resistance of the material and it really creates interesting effects sometimes!

Chill tempo, the absence of tension seemed irritating at first — it was a feeling that the game doesn't know what to do. Because we're used to games constantly stimulating us, pushing us forward. But after some time I started to value this calm approach. I now think it's one of the unique features of the game.

There are nice level design decisions. Like, the ladder over the big pit with spikes, covered with the chappy platform looked senseless at first. And only later on I understood why it's there.

The main gameplay feature — absorbing and expelling the children — looks underdeveloped. It's just there. If you've focused on it, it would be deeper and more meaningful. Well, probably then we wouldn't have all those tiny moments with the scientist and the turtle. Nevertheless.

Overall I think the game would benefit a lot if you would focus on only one of its aspects more. For example, make it really puzzly by taking the absorb-expell mechanic to the limit by thought out level design. Or vise versa turn it into a little smart sitcom full of dialogues and expressive characters, maybe built upon soft exploration mechanics. I clearly see that you're capable of doing any of these.

There are quite a lot of technical issues and inconsistencies. I have the list and it's long) If you're interested, feel free to reach me at https://twitter.com/bulboka

Oh boy indeed! That's what I call serious approach)

Thank you for a great review, that's what I'm here for. You made me really happier today.

Also I feel ashamed, because yes, this is really the end and it doesn't deserve all of your efforts. I should have written "REALLY AWKWARD conclusion" in my description. It was done in the last hours of jam by a very sleepy me and the meaning was supposed to be like: it's the only silent bird in the game which is just following you not wanting anything. I always had the more meaningful one in my mind and it will be in the post jam version. And I'd be happy to see your maps))

I'm especially grateful for your criticism and already figuring out the solutions in the post jam version. Good point about spawning houses misleading players, didn't think about it, thank you! I definitely don't want them all to be in place from the start but the problem obviously will be solved this way or another.

You get most of my super-duper-obscure-subliminal messages so right! The idea with annoying birds and narrowing camera was like this: enemies should damage not the player in the game but the player in front of the computer. I guess I succeeded maybe a little too much. The problem is that the player doesn't have any tools to confront it and I definitely will try to fix it.

About fitting the theme. The original idea was to explore people's desire to get together all the time, the overrated significance of being social, to question the widely regarded benefits of communication with people. In many things we are stronger when we're alone. Probably it's not reading well, birds look like usual gamey enemies, chasing the player for no particular reason. It's one of the most important parts of the game, thank you for refreshing feedback.

And yeh, level design… I'm going to write a post about my experience during this jam and it's going to be an important point. It will be on gamin.me if anybody is interested, but it'll be in russian.

Sorry for lots of words, but I was really glad to talk to you. Post jam version will be largely redesigned and expanded, and I hope it'll be much better. Thanks to your feedback as well.

The atmosphere is unexpectedly thick and gloomy. Music really adds to it. It fits the theme: you just feel that these two have to rely on each other for their lives.

Two characters with different abilities are implemented in a fresh way and look promising. I only expected that dog wouldn't be able to hunt on its own. I imagine, how cool it would be if it could just spot the deers and than you would have to switch to human and hurry to that place before game runs away! Also the dog could smell animals!

I experienced little visual bugs: deers started blinking and disappeared, also this happened to dog once.

It's too easy to find your way back to the fireplace using coordinates. Some kind of compass would be much more immersive.

You're welcome! It's better to make a buggy but meaningful and fresh game than polished but shallow and generic. Keep on working!