I gave him everything he's willing to take. All I have left is soap and a key. Nothing happens when I put them on the transmogrifier, and the professor won't take them.

Same result as when I asked herbert about spider person. I've seen that text before. I think the issue is I need to get the corpse onto the rocket with me somehow, but I don't know how.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun writing it. I spent a week (maybe a little more) before the jam reading all the Inform 7 documentation to make sure I was limited by the capabilities of the engine rather than my knowledge of the engine.

I had a really hard time figuring out where to set the threshold for job offers. If I'd been able to get more playtesters I could have fine-tuned that a bit. However, it sounds like you played long enough to get an offer, which is what I was hoping for.

If you want to make sure you're getting the full experience, I have two recommendations. One, check out the action list in the help menu if you haven't already, and then try those actions with various items. As you said, items are modifiable, so you may get different results based on things like whether the item is wet, where the item is, etc. Two, figure out what the math is telling you, if you haven't already figured it out.

That thing you mentioned with the math is definitely a bug. The math should either give one or more correct responses, or the math should give an incorrect response. I just checked the code to confirm my suspicions: it's a misplaced else, so the incorrect message shows up in more situations than it should (but the correct messages show up only when they are supposed to).

Yeah, it makes sense to me and it's an interesting idea! If you ever decide to develop it further, I'd be happy to play more.

An interesting idea, but it feels too short, like the game is over before I've really gotten to explore its potential. Am I right in understanding that at that part where you have lots of options, each one gives its own one-sentence response and then you go the same ending (the mention of waking up with salad)?

I ran into an error after getting Santana's ID: gracelyn_ID is not defined. And then I couldn't progress. With no way to restart or undo, I can't experience any more of the game.

Ok, I got that far and now it's saying I need a companion? Lost again.

It's been a while since I've played a game where you were expected to die frequently! Nice little game about struggling as you search for something. I was really frustrated at first but eventually got into a groove.

It would have been good if you used a spellchecker, and also don't forget the spacing when you add in the item the player is looking for. Speaking of substitutions, it doesn't look like you used the player name anywhere?

The way the choices were presented was sometimes unintuitive. Maybe (n) would be listed before (y) or maybe the question wasn't properly worded as a yes/no question. The "do you stop" him for the thief was probably the worst case: (n) means you stop him, (y) means you don't stop him, but the last line is "Do you stop him? (y/n)", which is the exact opposite! Maybe this difficulty was intentional, but it was frustrating.

Items felt a bit shoehorned in there and not fully developed, but that's kind of inevitable with such a small game. Just including them at all was good!

If you mark that file as "play in browser" then your game should be playable on browser so people don't have to download the file.

Still confused:

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show ten past two.

>x hands

You can't see any such thing.

>take hands

You can't see any such thing.

>take hand

You can't see any such thing.

>x hand

You can't see any such thing.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show eleven minutes past two.

>take time

You can't see any such thing.

>look back

You can't see any such thing.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show twelve minutes past two.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show thirteen minutes past two.

>take best thing you have ever owned

You can't see any such thing.

>take best thing

You can't see any such thing.

>i

You are carrying:

  a watch (being worn)

  a signalling mirror

  soap

  an elaborate brass key

  a communication transceiver

>drop watch

(first taking the watch off)

Dropped.

>look

Laboratory

You are in the laboratory of your boss, Professor Herbert. The dusty room is filled with strange equipment, placed precariously on heavy wooden tables. Spider webs adorn the solid stone walls, lit by dim amber light bulbs and flickering sparks from several humming machines.

A door to the south leads out of the laboratory.

You can see a watch, a Transmogrifier and Professor Herbert here.

>take watch

Taken.

>give watch to herbert

He's not interested in this, yet.

>x watch

Looking back, this watch is the best thing you have ever owned. It is beautifully made, keeps excellent time and even has a second hand that moves with a satisfying silent tick. Its hands currently show nineteen minutes past two.

>take nineteen minutes past two

Only four of those are available.

>take minutes

You can't see any such thing.

>take minutes past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take four minutes past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take past two

You can't see any such thing.

>take two

You can't see any such thing.

>take four

You can't see any such thing.

>give watch to herbert

He's not interested in this, yet.

I like this game, especially plot and the NPC! Unfortunately, I've definitely found some points of frustration. 

It's not clear to me which verbs are supported in this game (you can see in my game I made a menu where you can see all the verbs I used, which helps reduce the annoying activity of trying to guess what's acceptable). 

It's good that you have some version of in-game hints, but they aren't easy to find. I eventually figured out I needed to mix stuff from the hint after turning the transmogrifier on, but it took me a long time to think of turning the transmogrifier on. I kept trying commands like hint and help and they didn't work. I did eventually think to ask the professor about the rocket, but that was hard to think of. If you want to stick to interactive hints, maybe look at the "acting confused" example in Inform 7 documentation?

The descriptions are a bit lacking: some things are missing descriptions entirely, and some things are described as being in the room yet when I try to look at them I'm told they don't exist (so flavor text doesn't translate to actual items).

I'm stuck now. I picked up everything that could be picked up (including stuff to the west (I got the key)) and I headed back to the lab. I told the professor about the spider person and he wants me to make the stuff to fend off the aliens. All that's left is something to run the countdown, but it says he's not interested in the watch yet. I tried waiting, but he's still not interested. I tried giving the transceiver to him, but he just gets all concerned and nothing changes as far as I can tell.

You're the first to mention difficulty telling the voices apart. The "me" voice is not very distinctive since it was added last minute for accessibility. I could see mixing up the Wizard and the Rogue, though I did give them some variety in pitch, tone, and mannerisms. I'm surprised the Sorcerer doesn't stand out since I did give her an accent too (British - basically what I picked up when I lived in Harrogate which is near Yorkshire), but maybe the accent is a little too understated lol.

With the wrong questions I was trying to hint at it with the fact that two questions had the exact same wording at the end, but I guess that wasn't as obvious as I thought.

The 1, 2, 3 options was because I couldn't get the buttons to show up properly when the text was longer. It was a clunky workaround, but I didn't have another idea. And as I said, the voiceover with  that is a bit bugged.

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

2880 x 1800

Too hard for me, but I like the idea!

(Timestamp)

Cool concept! I especially like the use of the dare to fail wildcard. I'm not sure how the waiting wildcard was implemented though. I found it really hard to keep track of all the weaknesses and as you can see I didn't make it very far.

(Timestamp 59:10)

Awesome idea! I got stuck on level 3, even after I figured out getting the score above 7 and going into the hole.

(Timestamp 54:10)

Love the concept! Unfortunately the shooting bug made the game basically unplayable. Also, it was really hard trying to get away from enemies and then dying just from the act of running :(

(Timestamp 51:30)

Stressful, but in a fun way! You did a great job introducing new game mechanics. Also, I love the variety of characters. 

As you saw, I was confused about picking items up and putting them away: maybe more images in the first tutorial would have helped? It felt a bit hard for me: this seems like a good game for multiple difficulty options? Also, the movement was really hard (it felt hard to maneuver around). And it was very frustrating that you had to get into exactly the right spot before you can place the item. It would be great if the shelf was bigger or if you could stock from a different angle.

(Timestamp 33:20)

Awesome game! I love the concept, and the minigames were fun. Unfortunately I couldn't do adventure mode because I never figured out the sorting minigame :(

(Timestamp 27:08)

Surprised I haven't seen more rainbow games for this jam! You did a great job with it. It seemed like there was a cool mechanic of mixing colors, but when enemies bunched up I had trouble getting anything but white. Also, the difficulty was a bit much for someone unskilled like me.

(Timestamp 24:04)

Oh right I forgot about the climb button, thanks!

Cool idea! Seemed a bit buggy so I didn't get to play much, but I definitely like the concept.

(Timestamp 21:01)

Cute and fun! I only wish it could have been longer. And that the full bar boost was a little more intuitive (I think my timing was off or something).

(Timestamp 13:05)

Nice, chill game. I would have liked to be able to return the toys and talk to the people afterwards, but I understand if you ran out of time for that.

(Timestamp 7:44)

Controls didn't work at all for me idk why (and yes, I did remember to click within the browser window)

(Timestamp 5:07)

I never did figure out how to play... :(

(Timestamp 1:41)

I like this concept! Unfortunately, it wasn't that exciting to watch the battles play out (I think animations and sfx would have helped with this). Also, it took me a while to understand how gameplay was supposed to work. And the difficulty felt too easy and then suddenly way too hard. Balancing is tricky.

(Timestamp 2:34:50)

Cool game! I loved the music and how the animations lined up with it. There are a few things I would like to make the game easier (because I am not skilled): checkpoints so I don't have to start all the way at the beginning, and more lives.

I would also have liked to see more variety in the type of platforms and enemies.

Please put your music in an autoload next time so that it doesn't start over from the beginning each time the level restarts.

(Timestamp 2:30:46)

Great concept, but the bugs (final battle not working properly), the lack of explanation in game, and the amount of grinding made it hard to enjoy. I still had fun, but this could definitely use some more work. It's a great idea and a great start, though. I never did get to see the 3 enemies together becoming strong, which is a shame cause that sounded cool. I liked the music but got annoyed when it kept restarting. Maybe use an autoload next time?

(Timestamp 2:15:20)

Cool! Sailing around was hard. But the radar detector didn't work as well as I would have liked, and it wasn't clear enough that I even had a radar. I think the issue is that the sounds are spaced apart so far it's hard to tell when I'm getting closer. Sounds closer together would have helped. I liked how you got upgrades when you found treasure.

(Timestamp 1:56:47)

Cool game! It was difficult, but satisfying.

(Timestamp 1:53:18)

Cool game! For a game with Dare To Fail, it definitely felt a bit unforgiving though. I lost levels enough times that I eventually just gave up, which is sad cause I wanted to see the rest of the game. I think one of the big challenges for me was that the platforms were so tiny. Longer platforms (i.e., more maneuverability and harder to fall) would have helped. Gameplay and story were interesting, but assets could have used more polish.

(Timestamp 1:37:35)

A cool game. The clicking to send workers felt a little repetitive, but I was definitely invested in the story. Unfortunately there were some issues: the viewport thing and tiny font size made it hard to see well. Also, the text advanced automatically which is bad for accessibility, especially when the advance speed is really fast.

(Timestamp 1:19:20)

This is such a creative idea, and well executed! Also a great implementation of Dare to Fail. I wish the implementation was just a little different though: instead of sending me to the next level, just let me retry the level with the help of my newly acquired abilities. I want to keep retrying and retrying and getting all the powerups to the end, rather than eventually failing the game because I failed all 7 levels even though I was getting better at the game and more powerful.

(Timestamp 1:01:50)

The graphics are beautiful! Music is good, too. Unfortunately there's basically no gameplay loop, but you did a good job of making something that can at least show the graphics you made.

(Timestamp 56:29)

Cute! The art and music are charming, and the game is surprisingly fun to play. I definitely wanted a bazillion chickens and also giant chickens, but I didn't have the patience to make that happen. Even with the infinite corn mod, I still had to wait for the eggs which took a while.

(Timestamp 41:54)

Cool art. I would have liked more visual feedback on hitting, getting hit, dodging, etc. Also, the difficulty was a bit unforgiving for me. More health, lower bullet speed, faster player speed, and health regen over time are all ways to make the game easier. The music was nice, but I'm not sure I ever got to hear the whole thing because it kept resetting when I restarted. Definitely I'd look into autoload and looping audio for next time (and that's something you could work on outside of jam time).

(Timestamp 32:37)

That was fun! Required some strategy but also I get to slash at things which is cool. I would have liked a visual indication of the range of the tower (the standard way to do this is with a circle (or other shape, if the area isn't a circle)). I do wonder, the enemies were green and they flashed red when hit: is that an issue for colorblindness?

(Timestamp 12:07)