itch.io

The game does a lot with little: the structure is clear and evokes a reflective mindset; the visuals aid in explaining the emotions behind each response; and the choice of words encourages you to learn from your experience. 

An interesting quirk of the shifting system is that one can end up in a feedback loop. Once you've reached 4 points in any response, it's impossible to roll 4-; Locking you in this response. I interpret this as a form of trauma. Once we've learned that a certain response always works, we get stuck into that response. Only when we step away, like the game's page allows us, can we get away from our trauma response and start with a 'clean slate'.  I'd love to see this process acknowledged in the game's text, as it feels like such a natural development of the play pattern.

A small note on the layout: it took me a while to figure out that I was meant to use the empty space after each response to write out the points. A small transparent line behind the colons might help.

Thank you for creating this little game. I hope to print it sometime soon and play it.

The ideas behind this game raise quite a few interesting questions: What shape best represents the relationship between these people? Which connection is the closest, and thus dies after them? The choice of dice allows one to determine the complexity of the game, creating an unsuspectingly intuitive difficulty modifier. 

I would have loved to see more evocative language used. The game uses 'cross out' to indicate death; while I believe something like 'slash through' or 'pierce through' would have served the same instruction, while creating a bit of gore imagery in the imagination. In general I feel like the game could benefit from a stronger identity through it's text. I have a hard timing placing my role in it. Am I a member of this family eliminating them? Am I an assassin bringing loose ends to their end? I believe having a few words establishing this would add a lot to the experience!

Thank you for creating such a cool way of establishing connections. 

Thank you! If you ever end up playing it I'd love to hear about your experience.

The entire game oozes the right aesthetic. The first checkbox being checked, the hand-sketched feel of the entire thing, the map. It feels exactly like something a stranded person would make to keep themself sane. Puts one into exactly the right mindset. I love the clear sequence and goals!

Here's a few things I would love to see developed further:

• I would have loved to have seen a duration added to the action sequence. That way the fresh water/eating rule has a more concrete structure to work around.
• The lower space on the rules page feels a bit empty. Maybe you could have added some example sketches that one could duplicate on the island? Or maybe a little sketch of our beloved Wilson.
• The final 2 lines, the goals, feel like they're the wrong way around. Survive being my more immediate goal, and escaping the island my long-term goal. Maybe you could also separate the long-term goal to more clearly indicate it as being far away.

Thank you for creating this. If I ever get stuck on a island, I'll know what to play.

The game has a cute color palette, and I found that the words put me in sort of a trance. Likely because of the sexual implications of it all. While I find it hard to imagine the play structure, I don't necessarily think this is an issue. The act of reading itself felt almost like playing. I left my own reality, and became the doll, held by it's presumed creator. We share the same colour of clothing, implying some deeper bond beyond the structure of domination. This structure is supported by my limited dice pool, which will statistically results in 9s, right under the expected average of a d20: 10.5. The final sentence reinforces the trust between me and my dominator, asking for my consent.

A possible point of improvement could suggestion would be to try a 'wider' version of the game. This way the jams could all fit on 1 line. It could also reduce the amount of line breaks resulting in fewer orphans / widows. Though this might reduce the trance-like effect the text currently has, as the fact it was a bit hard to parse did add to the feeling I 'wasn't in control'.

Thank you for creating this experience. I feel closer to myself tonight having gone through it.

Love the image this game strikes in my head. The questions help to create an idea of both your own version of Elestra, and the reflections. I might have phrased the question 'Why do you want to consume her?' like 'Why do you need to consume her?' instead, as it adds a more concrete structure to the game. Currently you're a bit stuck if you don't want to consume this version of Elestra. But honestly, that's personal preference — maybe it could be the game's end condition.

I'd recommend trying to play around with the layout a bit! For example, you can make the questions a bit easier to parse by separating 'What will she consume next?' into a separate line, like you did with the rest. Maybe you could arrange the questions to create an oval, to support the mirror imagery.

Thank you for creating. This was encouraging to engage with.

Hey there, could you elaborate a bit on why you believe the "turret obstacle" needs work?

We are currently trying out different aiming techniques. Thanks for reaffirming we are testing the right things.

- PastaPun  (Hazard and level designer)