itch.io

Really cool! Nice take on the limitation! I appreciated the quality of life added with the buttons to jump straight to giving the sandwich to customers 🫡

One of my favourite entry for the jam! It is really polished and really fun to play! I seriously could’ve played it for several hours, I’m not joking.

Really interesting, love the concept and set up, good take on limitation! Sadly I got soft lock twice, one I jumped in a texture and it prevented me to jump anymore, second near the spawn on the sandwich merchant game (I suppose), it didn’t load, I had an error textbox, I tried to attack again, and the Ui disappeared all together :/ The music is also really repetitive, and if it is not a bad music in itself, it is not suited to be a main game track that you are meant to hear for long periods of time.

Those are my only issues with the game though, GG for your entry!

The game has potential, But I got softlock twice on different places, first when fishing, and a second time I stayed the night on the cave, and the game couldn’t respawn me at all.. :/

On the good notes, I really felt like a detective, and the progressions felt natural. having multiples music for different occasions was a nice touch, and they were well chosen.

The game is super ambitious, and I appreciated the time related event! GG to all the team 🫡

A super interesting take on the idle game! I loved the artistic direction and the atmosphere! I just wished that our character hitbox was a little bigger and shapped a bit more like a “bowl” maybe, because it was a bit awkward to push the different items around, and it resulted in me just pushing them to fall near the spawn 👀

Oh sneaky! I never read game descriptions instead I absolutely have to XD so yeah, in my opinion the game limitation isn’t met, because the description of a game isn’t part of said game 🙏

The game description is a good way to communicate around the game, and in jams to fix development misses because a lot of us are beginners, and jams set insanely shorts delays of development, so of course the result of that short development time will fail in some aspects, but we still want the player to see as much of it as possible. To me if you wanted the description to be part of the game, as in a cross media way, you should’ve say in game to check for the controls in description, and fully lean into that! With maybe a “narrator” existing both inside and outside the game? But even that, as much as I find it interesting, could be considered unfair by some, because you can add and fixes descriptions anytime you want, outside of the allowed development period.. 🤔

GG anyway! What matter the most at the end of the day is how enjoyable a game is, and I had a great great time on yours! 🕺

Yo this is really solid! It is pretty, intuitive and fun! I immediately knew what was expected of me, that is straight up the best tutorial I saw in a jam ever, with your way of introducing stuff bit by bits! Sadly your biggest strength regarding the game is also your biggest weakness in regard of the limitation: at no point did I felt mislead in anyway, I just played a normal “serve food to costumer” game (a great one, it felt good at every lvl, everything being clean, pretty, and responsive, but still a pretty straight forward one). Maybe I missed something though? please tell me if that’s the case 🙏

Hi meooooooooow! Thank you for the detailed review! The ripped clothes goes near the toilets since tori didn’t see Barney with a ripped shirt, and we know that she left him just before that point in the chronologie. But it’s really funny that you put the lump there!

The team is well aware that the puzzle is the weak aspect of the game, it is what suffered the most from the chaotic developpement process :/ Good news is, we already learned a lot from this jam, and we will not make the same rookie mistakes again 💪

The black screen is then end of the game, there were supposed to be credits playing there but I runned out of time 😆 I’m happy that you enjoyed the game, thank you for playing and taking the time to search the way to see the end of it! 🫡

Nice! I’m happy to see a dress up game on here, it’s also a smart way to include the limitation! Good work!

This is super efficient in all that it wants to do! Well done!

Really simple but super efficient! I loved how you played with player expectation by not telling us the opposite of what to do, and by making fun of us for doing something stupid in regard of the context that you clearly set beforehand! That is a really smart little game, and it made me smile! GG

I loooove the art style, it is unique and it gives a real atmosphere to the game. Also you managed to successfully make the owl threatening, even to me who knew that the game wasn’t to be trusted. I only talked to it after the coffee bug made me reset the game, thinking “well, I could retry to do some coffee, that might bug again, or I could try to do the “stupid thing”, to go talk to that big menacing folk, and see what happens. So to me, you successfully put the player in the shoes of the protagonist. Everything is unknown, it is hard to trust those people, some of them being really menacing, but you have to overcome your fear, you have to risk giving that trust to progress. That’s really well done

Now, be careful on the font you use, it is barely readable at time on web browser (To a point I had to guess what might be written). I tried to zoom, but it didn’t help. :/

funny you mentioned the credits, as it was originally planned. 😆 I even started to code them, but I had to stop to focus on last minutes bugs 🫡 I also agree with you on your second note (we had some other music that GranularBiomes composed for the game, but once again, time was against us, the developpement was overall pretty chaotic XD)

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! Knowing that our little game resonated with someone on that lvl, genuinly means a lot to me

Thank you for your comment! I'm really happy that you enjoyed our game so much! I sure can give you the solution to the case 😌

the weird lump goes on the beach (1), the tinfoil mess on the campsite (2), sunglasses on the restaurant spot (3), and the ripped cloth on the toilets area (4)

Since our puzzle/mystery is super clumsy (we ran out of time for a proper playtest), chances are that you will not find the resolution satisfying, but I hope you'll find it fun anyway!

(don't mind the multiples edits, that's me trying ro put the solution in spoiler, and miserably failing )

It's ok, not every game is for everyone! Thank you for trying it out though 🌱

Oh so didn't imagine things! Definitly felt the crumbs of those pattern at some points, and I'm happy that they were on the table! And if you plan to add them back, then I have to keep an eye on this game, because I want to play that so bad 🕵️

ooouh I didnt, it might have something to do with the sandwich that I never bought (I was so locked in on my objective, I had no money to spear 👀) but you make me hella curious, I'll play the game again to unlock that ending! I still have my notes so it shouldn't be to long to get there!

You didnt sound harsh xD 

I got the save don't worry! But the feeling of being trown to the door for not randomly picking the good option in a discussion with a guy I don't vibe with, I got it too xD A button "try again?" instead of immediate title screen would've certainly ease that out a bit 🤔 

I understand that the point was not to choose your endgame, and instead to get them all, that's why my suggestions pointed toward letting the player the choice of the order of the dates itself, and that I didnt complain about having to date, but having to date PERFECTLY (I failed with 7/8 hearts) But I also can imagine this solution not being suited for the experience you wanted for the players. That only was the first one coming to my mind in reply to the aspect of the game that lost me a little: the sentiment that my presence, as a player, made no difference. The game is neither skill based, nor is it creative, and it's not reflexion based either. So to me (and your view on the subject might differe here), what is left is choice. even minors ones, even only a handfull of ones, but some that make me feel like I am in the story and that I am the one leading it, you know! (and I dont count the "nah actually you cant choose that" and "you can choose what you want until you choose the actual right option" choices, because they reenforce that sentiment that I'm talking about)

My goal by sharing that opinion isn't to tear you down, it isnt neither to diminish the incredible work you made for this jam. I did it because I feel that jams are great opprtunity to have our game played by a lot of different people and see how they experience them. If our point came across as intended and what went lost in translation. So in short what I mean is that I tried, clumsily, to be useful to you 👀

I'm only one kind of player and I might just not be in your target audience. But I figured that for you to know if my taste aligned with your objectives, I had to talk about them, about what I did enjoy, and what I didnt resonate with. 

Ho and after that text wall ponctuated with like near to 0 emoticones, might be a good idea to say that I come in peace: what can be percieved as aggressivity is just me being a really direct talker with no people skills xD 

you make me wonder if the version I played didnt have the placeholders in? my npc were clothed in brown and kind of adventury looking, and amos looked like golden bullets 👀

I'm not sure what was going on, but I made it, I will never work again xD

That was so pretty and relatable xD

I won first try! .. totally randomly though 👀I found the explanation in the comments below, and I appreciate that you didnt spoiled it in game nor in the description game because it is a fun puzzle to solve. But I wonder if a liiiiiittle bit more of guidance wouldn't have been welcome...? I mean, we have to figure out by ourself a looooot of thing: that the dices are the enemies's (I thought it was ours),  that we are meant to counter them, and not only that, but we don't have to react, but predict. I think, to me, what would've helped to fully enjoy your puzzle, would've been that you made sure that I had the basic understanding of the set up ("the dices are enemy spells, your spells are bottom right" (because as dumb as it sounds, until the end I thought thouse dices where the result of my spellcasting and that I had to figure out which spells spawned which dice)), and a bit more of visual cues to immediately understand what interaction had effect or not (like a "miss!"/"failed!" when we didnt choose the right spell, to tell us "the game registered your input, but it's not the good one"), or when a turns end to tell us that there are in fact multiple turns (since the enemies arent directly attacking us, that is not as obvious as it may seem that new dice roll = new turn)

also, since your game as such little font you might be interested to know that you can allow full screen on the itch edit game page!

Anyway, fun set up, interesting idea, dope music! GG!

I loooooooove the artstyle! you crafted a super fun world, I had a great time discovering it! 🍀

Nice, loved the music! The sprite choices felt a bit random though, having gun amo for the keyboard weapon, and generic npc sprite instead of coworker looking ncp sprite broke the immersion for me. That said, that's a really ambitious first game! And it was fun to play! GG!

I got stuck in a collision too, on the second lvl!

Ok the idea is interesting, and the writing is fun. Art is simple but pleasant and original and the music was nice. But I have a but :/ It is something I encounter a lot in jam games, but your game suffer from it a little more than others by its nature: You don't trust the player enough, and you are way too afraid of your game not being play "the right way". I'm not even referring to the extra diegetic dialogue where you ask the player to play your game the right way, this was really funny to me. I talk about how you dictate each step, step after step. The limitation of the jam is "game tells you to do something but you know better than to listen to it", but in the actual game, in a straight forward manner, you tell us "touch enemies, don't listen to ai, talk to npc, go there, do that, this way". There is 0 place for the player to actually run around and mess with the computer's rules. No place for discovery and figuring things out. What should've be a cathartic experience of defying authority, turn out to be us strictly, closely, following the lead of an other authority figure: you. 

I still believe that the game has a loooot of potential. You just have to learn how to give space to your player to be players 😌

Nice little story! For the limitation I found you a little shy, like I know what you wanted to do with it, but you didn't commit enough to my opinion. I would've love to see EVERY moving sentences to follow the "don't" logic until the very end. Maybe by adding a voice in the head of the mer princess? ""don't eat more" said the voice in her head -> but the little mer princess ate more" something like this, until she broke free!

I also had the text issue, I fixed it by zooming on the browser to 200%. I suspect it has something to do with monitor sizes, the bigger your screen is, the more zoomed out the background will be (so it will have to duplicate itself to still fill the screen), while the text will always center the web page.

Nice work on the sound design, and the backgrounds were pretty too! It was overall really really atmospheric, the ambiance was well done. gg!

yay I won! Encountered a little bug after dying, because I didnt reset the lvl fast enough the screen switched, but I clicked before the cube followed: So the game made me restart at the start of the next lvl (next check point passed) without any cube (no cube in screen to re-position with reset?) 

My advice to fix that is that the reset button always delete the cube, and then recreate it in the last lvl it collided with spawn-floor. if game detect that the cube has to spawn in lvl 2 and player is in lvl 3, then reload the lvl 2, else everything's good to go 👍

anyway, congrats you guys for your first game! The physic mechanic was fun and the ice cube really felt like an ice cube 🌬️🧊

Ouh I kind of guessed that but considering the short amount of time we had for the jam, I thought that those other love interest could also not be in the game yet. That would've been nice to allow the player to continue the story anyway, knowing that they could go back at anypoint to 100% the game. That would also give a bit more agency to the player, to let them decide which of the romance option they want to mess with, and which ones they actually care about. I felt that lack of agency on some other minors occasion (the need to test the exact food combination to progress and the understandable nuh-uh of Eloise when we choose to not go on a date with that stranger in the first place, are the one coming in the top of my head), but that "win or die" is, to me, the more damagable one. One solution could've be to have a less linear experience, where the first day you meet the 3 love interest, and choose with which one you get to proceed with. (while keeping the win or die aspect, and each day would still be focusing on a different character, but at least you would know for sure that there are more to come, and you would have the feeling that you somehow lead the story) 

ANYWAY, like I said, I might play it again one day, that blond dude is peaking my interest 😎 GG again for the game, I forgot to mention it yesterday because it was so late and I was so tired, but the amount of care you put in the game really shows. Also the art is super pretty, and the writing is funny af, it made me laugh a couple of time! 

I cant fight against an unhappy smiley... Fine, I will give the people what they want 🥲

Thank you very much , we really gave our all until the very last minutes 💪 And I can't wait to show your comment to my friends who lended us their voices 😄 I'm happy you had a good time!

Yo, I failed because I was too old and it shown in my dialogue choices PFFF

I might have missed things, but since I have the game now, I might replay it an other time! I demand an update to add soda guy to the romances options though. That was a bunch of fun and as I mentioned on discord, the vibe felt really nostalgic to me. You folks did a wonderful work, you can be proud!

I'm sorry, I tried to play but the cam gave me motion sickness immediately... :/ 

eheheh I'm hero 😎

Really cute game, loved all the gameplay phases, it was really original and the lil friends were soo cute! 

A little sad that the music isn't looping! And you should've make the recipes less expensive, why not even free? Finding out the real recipes is the fun part of the game, and it is really well done with the annotation system, I loved the idea! So you don't need a "farm" aspect to the game where the player that did solve your puzzle continue to mindlessly do the same 3 recipes over and over, because we gain nothing out of that, no dopamine, nor further  knowledge. (and clicking on the bottles isnt fun in itself :/) What would've be a good way to implement the recipes in a progressive way would've been that when you successfully send a drink 2 successive times, it is then replaced by an other drink to solve. That way, the player is always solving something!

Anyway, congrats for your entry, I had a good time playing it!

The art is insane, loved the portraits! I enjoyed the ambiance a lot, but sadly I didnt understand the game. It didnt look like I could trad, what was the point to going to places, how to gather shells (probably when talking to npc....? But that's a wild guess here) And didnt understood how/why time mattered. Something is sure though: The game is still really intriguing to me, and I'm curious in which direction you'll take it from there, for the mobile/steam release, as I think it has a lot of potential 🦾

I made it to the end! The solution to your door puzzle was really sneaky, in a good way! I had fun with the minigames too! GG!

I DID IT! PLAYED ALL DAY LONG AND I WON!!

I wouldn't be mad if I bought this game, I loved the puzzle mechanic to it, I drew diagrams on papers, took a lot of notes, made my opinions on who could be trusted and who couldn't step by step, that was AMAZING.

For me this is one of the strong strong contestant of the jam, and based of your ratings, probably the most underrated. The art style is gorgeous, chara design is really coherent and fun, with a lot of personality to it.

Now on my notes, I would've made the rode minigame easier, or faster at least. And for most of the fish I loved how clues bounced on each others, but some felt a bit based on random try (like the clownfish for exemple) Couldve been cool if you could beat the game without ever relying on random guessing. (I don't think I got the clue to use especially the trap for the clownfish, I got clues to go to the shallow reef though) 

Also I would've love if you could see a pattern in lying habits, like "this one lies on fish he didnt caught to cover themself" "this one misdirect on fish they got only, but you can caught them speculating on fish they didht caught yet", "this one is a bad liar so if they caught a fish and say "I think" "I should" "maybe", then I shouldn't listen to them, but otherwise I can", etc etc

at the end of the day, I didnt spot any full proof pattern I could rely on, everytime I though I found one, the next fish proved me wrong on my guessing, not a big deal but I didnt felt as reward for my thinking and investigating that I could've.

Anyway I'm nit-picking here! I had a blast! I love games where devs choose to trust the player and let them play and figure things out, it feels so good! 

Hey, thank you for playing! Since I got few complaints, I tried to add the fullscreen button yesterday. But as suspected, the low resolution pixel-art doesn't read at all on such big screens, so I removed it :/ (I wouldn't want people to automatically start playing in full screen because they see the button and assume playing in full screen is intended, you know) 
But for next jam, I'll take that discomfort into account and will go for an other art style 🙏

thank you for playing! To be honest the puzzle is harder than intended, we didn't plan enough time to playtest and balance it out so it's on us, don't beat yourself up too much xD  regardless, I'm happy that you enjoyed the characters and overall ambiance 🫡

thank you!