I’m happy to provide some feedback on this awesome project. There’s a lot I like here, and a polished version of this would be an instant buy for me.
I have years of experience sending and receiving Morse code over the radio, and I’ve developed some strong preferences about how to do it. That colors my perception of the gameplay, so please take the following comments with that in mind; I may not be your typical player. Answering your survey questions:
The tutorial was fine in structure, and I appreciated that it was optional. You should indicate what the controls are. The UI requires mouse clicks (which you might want to fix as well - keyboard should always be an option), and one textual hint implies I should use the + and - keys, but in fact the code has to be sent with the spacebar, and “Enter” fires the shot. Once I figured that out, I was ready for the game.
“Difficult” isn’t the right word for what frustrated me in the gameplay. There are a few issues. First, having the view jump right and left is disorienting. That’s compounded by the isometric view, which makes it hard to tell which square a plane is over in the first mission. The timer for sending each character is another annoyance. I can send code a lot faster than the timer, but the only way to abort it and send the next character seems to be to hit “Enter,” which fires a round. On the second mission, that meant I was often out of ammo and waiting for the next round to drop into the chamber. Waiting for the character timer makes it hard to fire fast enough to complete the mission. Mission objectives were also a little unclear, especially on the second map. The commander talks about taking out artillery and intercepting a supply train, but then I saw guys walking around and piles of supplies, so I figured (apparently correctly) that I was supposed to hit those targets. Also, sometimes my shot hit one square, and sometimes three. I don’t know why. When I got the “Victory” screen, there were still some guys and supplies on the screen, so I don’t think I ever really knew what the objective was or exactly how I’d accomplished it. I did the next batch of dialogues, but then bailed out of the demo to write this post.
I didn’t see any bugs, but also didn’t finish the whole demo, having gotten tired of the frustrating controls. Incidentally, I’m running it on Linux under Wine, which seems to work fine.
Control sensitivity wasn’t an issue, as I was using the keyboard space bar for the missions and clicking the mouse for the dialogue. Was there another option?
The game scaled correctly to my 27” screen.
For a commercial release, I’d be fine with a PC version. My only other gaming platforms are iOS and Nintendo Switch. I know both are expensive for developers to get into, and iOS would be a horrible platform for sending Morse code anyway. I’d want the control, view-scrolling, and mission objective issues I outlined above to be ironed out, of course. Allowing people to use a game controller would be cool, though personally I wouldn’t. My preferred Morse sending interfaces are iambic paddles or a good straight key, but I don’t expect you to manufacture USB-connected versions of those for me.
I think my comments above cover it. The visual novel portions are gorgeous, I’m thrilled that you’re crafting a real story around this, and as a serious Morse aficionado I’d love to play through a serious narrative game driven by code. I expect there are a lot of others who would, too (including many other ham radio operators like me). Good luck!
The downloaded version doesn’t run for me, but perhaps that’s because I’m running it under Wine on Linux. I got the web version to work by making the window full size, and figured out that I needed to control the characters with WASD to run away from the monster. It might be worth mentioning that on the game page.
After several rounds, though, I haven’t found any additional content, just streets branching in different directions. Is there more to see? Does it get to a visual novel-type scene eventually?
That was really sweet, and not just because of the candy. You’ve really done a lot with a little here: simple but evocative artwork, sound, and writing bringing across a distinct mood and setting. That’s a tough trick to pull off, and you’ve done it quite well. Great work!
It felt like it could be a glitch, but as I say it also felt like it might be intentional. I had the phone by myself, got to the face ID, and seemed to get stuck in a loop with that (touch the face, touch the arrow, touch the face …). After a few laps through the loop, I got “The End.”
Nice work! I apparently got sucked into figuring out the phone, which seems like a realistic end for an old person trying to deal with technology. Great job on the Godot-Ink integration, too.
It was great to be a part of this, despite the last-minute crunch. Thanks for this helpful postmortem, too, which shows a lot about the creative process and also highlights how quickly these projects expand. Nonetheless, you met the challenge. Great job!
Next time you need the voice of a sarcastic jerk, drop me a line.
I got it working on my Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) desktop, but had to change a monitor setting to fix a serious playability glitch. I don’t know whether it’s specific to running it under Wine (other Unity/Windows games have worked fine for me on this machine without adjustment), or if it could happen on any dual-monitor setup. In either case, here’s the problem description and the fix.
Problem: The game has a horrible flicker, starting at the title screen. There’s no settings menu I can find to change refresh rate, and the flickering is so bad I can’t look at the screen for more than a couple of minutes without eyestrain.
Fix: In system settings, set both monitors to 59.95fps refresh rate.
This is clever game mechanic, and you’ve executed it well. I haven’t played her main story, but already feel like I know the character a bit from just this short vignette.
Once I got it to launch, this was a lovely experience: short, sweet, and really doing a lot with very little. I love how you one-upped the whole minimalist aesthetic of the jam with the simple, but highly evocative, chalk art. The story is really sweet, too.
On Linux (Ubuntu 20.04), both the Linux and Windows default launchers fail, with the error “Error of failed request: BadLength (poly request too large or internal Xlib length error)”. However, by launching the .exe from the Itch.io desktop app, the game ran fine under Wine.
Nice! It’s so cool to see people taking a different tack from the stereotypical visual novel layout for this jam. This almost feels like it could be a cutscene from some sort of action game.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of psychological horror, but the artwork drew me in and I found the whole experience very well-crafted. You’ve really done a lot within the strict limitations of this jam.
I didn’t realize Apple had started charging storage fees. The podcast I co-host has been running for more than a decade, so we may be getting a different deal from newer shows. Youtube is indeed annoying, and probably only worthwhile if you have a video component. In any case, your show sounds great, and the lack of speed controls is just a minor quibble.
As a longtime podcaster myself, I really appreciate the effort you’ve put into this; the sound quality is excellent, the format solid, and the content engaging. Is there any chance you could try uploading it to one of the standard podcasting platforms (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or even Youtube)? I’d love to be able to subscribe through the same channels I use for other podcasts, and also to use the standard features I’ve come to depend on for podcasts - especially the speed controls.
This was a lot of fun, thanks for making it. I did have a problem with the Linux build (I’m on Ubuntu 20.04). Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions refused to launch, either from the Itch.io launcher or directly. Launching it from a terminal, all I get is “error while loading shared libraries: libSDL2_mixer-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”.
Fortunately, the Windows version worked fine through Wine in the Itch.io launcher, and I was able to enjoy this “Undertale-like” (is that a thing? Well, it is now).
I got this as part of the enormous Bundle for Ukraine, and it’s definitely one of the highlights of that set. The story is well crafted, the setting compelling, and the characters believable. It was worth going back in again after my first playthrough to get the good ending, which was really touching.
I apologize for attempting to help, and won’t do it to you again. However, since this is a public comment thread, I will leave my comment there in case someone merely interested in playing the game wants to know how to do so on Linux.
Try launching it from the Itch.io desktop app with Wine installed on your system. It ran perfectly for me that way on Ubuntu 20.04 - many Windows games do.
Oh my gosh, this is AMAZING. You made this in a month? Wow. The artwork is top-notch, yes, and the writing is excellent, but what’s blowing me away is the sheer depth of the thing. Turn-based combat with fully implemented mechanics? Leveling up individual skills? Multiple stat systems, not only for mana and health but also learning and relationship-building? Check, check, check.
Both main characters’ personalities are really coming through in the writing, and Dianthus reminds me of Lysithea from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, a game I’ve spent an embarassing amount of time playing. I do have a small gripe with the battle balancing. Maybe I’m just missing something obvious, but damn, these battles are hard. It feels like there’s exactly one sequence of winning moves, which may make sense from a story perspective but isn’t as much fun as having a bit more strategic space.
This is great! The artwork is professional, the writing is on point, the theme certainly fits the jam, and even though I hate mazes in games, the one in this one was well done. It also ran perfectly on Linux, which I appreciate. Thanks!
The art, soundtrack, and writing are all quite good, and the concept is fun. I got Ending 5, but I’m not sure I really understood it. Overall, this is amazing work for a game made in a month. Thanks!
Wow, this was outstanding! The mood, the pacing, the mystery of it, and the subtlety of the choice mechanic all gripped me. All of the options seem like we’re just making up a story for someone, but there’s a looming sense that each one will matter a lot in ways we can’t sense when we’re making them. The payoff lives up to that in spades.
