itch.io

Hello!

Thanks for your kind words. It’s been a hard few months professionally and personally for me, so it’s very nice to hear your excitement. Progress has been very slow, but I’m excited too!

This weekend I wrapped up the writing needed for the preview. I have a few mixing tasks before packaging it up. It will definitely launch with some things I’m unhappy with and will improve in subsequent updates. Regardless, it will be a huge step closer to the finished experience.

The instrument has given me several hours of enjoyment too! One day it might be nice to give it MIDI and keyboard/mouse controls as well. I hope you’ve found some zen on the title screens with it.

I’m not super active on Discord, but I’ll look out for you when I have a chance. I even set up a Discord server a few years ago, that I’ve stopped telling folks about because I’m too afraid to check. Maybe with the SYNTH jam coming up, it might make sense to revitalize it.

Cheers! ✌

Composer/sound designer looking for a team:

https://itch.io/jam/synth-jam/topic/3269446/composersound-designer-looking-for-a-team

Let us know who you’re looking for here. Thanks!

Thanks for posting! I enjoyed your portfolio. I hope you find some folks to work with, but if not, the jam could be an opportunity to learn a new tool to make your music come to life.

I’m so glad to hear! Progress has been slow, but I’m hoping to give you a new build by the end of the year. It will have the water world.

Delays happen and it’s okay. I’m also delaying my game by a few months, but the extra time will be worth it.

I noticed you’re in the Schmup Fest. Nice trailer. 😹 I hope it gets you some wishlists.

Great idea! I just linked those up. Apparently if you paste a Steam store page URL into your store description, it will automatically embed the widget. I’ll probably cross-promote on launch day too.

Please join us on Friday, December 15, for SYNTH jam, a slow jam for folks interested in interactive audio. For one month, participants will create sound toys like fantasy instruments, soundboards, and more. Submissions will be rated and reviewed by the public on their audio, functionality, and coolness for internet points.

Hello! I name-dropped this in the description for SYNTH jam. It would be cool to see more projects like this on itch.

Hello! I name-dropped this in the description for SYNTH jam. It would be cool to see more projects like this on itch.

Hello! I name-dropped this in the description for SYNTH jam. It would be cool to see more projects like this on itch.

Thanks again for your suggestion to release this on Steam. I decided to follow through on that. Here’s the page. Very excited for yours too. Cheers!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2589110/Fishyphus/

Great concept and nice start! The TTS implementation was great as always. I got through the long jump after several retries, and would play further with better patience on my part.

I found some frustration in navigating the space. Perhaps, if you expand this, then it might be helpful to add more sounds. For example, environmental sounds that help with orientation and wayfinding, or smaller cues like footsteps or a jump charging sound that indicate how I’m moving. Don’t be afraid to let that sound design become a character of its own and tell a story.

Great concept. I enjoyed the witty writing and sound design. I played the first two levels and successfully learned to read the first seven letters of the alphabet. EGAD!

You may find The Sequence to be an interesting and well-polished take on this concept if you haven’t tried it already.

Nice start! Overall the button layout and level of detail felt about right. I could see this working very well in a number of contexts. For example, introducing a few more buttons, where you might hear from characters other than yourself, or receive different sensory details like touch or smell. Tell us more about the research project?

Overall the TTS implementation worked great, both through the built-in TTS and NVDA. The keyboard navigation was also a breeze. Here are some ideas to help polish the experience:

• Try to keep the Main Menu item labels short and succinct. The game’s title probably doesn’t need to be read aloud for each item. For example: Start, button.
• The state of the toggles on the Options screen are not accessible. Try something like this: Music, toggle on.
• Also on the Options screen, the labels do not need to be focusable, as long as they are read aloud when focusing the toggles.

Nice start! Are you planning to expand more on this, now that you have the general framewok in place?

Nice details!

Without revealing too much, the original plan for the final side was not far from what you describe: an Earth-like planet with a twist. The hope was for the next few sides to support it, with abilities and narrative leading up to it. Of course, that’s over a year away, and things could change.

Did you manage to get the game working on your machine?

Thanks you! It’s a labor of love, and I’m excited too.

Wow! This is an original alpha seed. Beta seeds are in an eight-character format now.

Anyway, I’ve finally found a moment to look into this. This is intentional. You’re facing the portal that you exited to get here. It’s about 85 meters above you from this location. It sounds a bit louder because structures have a brighter sound than the surrounding terrain. Ideally this helps teterhedra, portals, etc. stand out against varied terrain like this.

I’m wrapping up the new update to release within the next week. It will include some mixing adjustments to cues like these.

Thanks so much for taking this thread seriously and providing so much feedback. I appreciate your time spent playing and writing this up.

I’m starting to get back into the project. My immediate priority is to prepare the demo for Steam Next Fest, beginning June 19. There should be an update with some changes around then. After that, I’ll definitely be tweaking things as I continue working toward the Side C release.

Cheers!

Thanks for verifying, I appreciate it! 🤘

Thanks for reporting. I just released an update that introduces experimental Firefox support. Beware that the game does not sound as intended in Firefox. However, it is now playable.

Thanks for reporting. I just released an update that introduces experimental Firefox support. Beware that the game does not sound as intended in Firefox. However, it is now playable.

That’s awesome! The tutorial is intended to kill you through your third run, so it sounds like you got through it and started really battling the reaper. My highest is 35. By then it’s less about improving your skill, and more just how much time you’d like to spend in the world. Cheers!

I love the aesthetic and would like to see this more fully realized, especially with fuller sound design. Sorry to hear about the computer crash—I’ve been there, and it’s terrible.

Easy to learn, and feel like a genius, only for it to so quickly descend into chaos.

Great concept and very fun. A few suggestions to keep the dopamine bowling:

• I’d love to start with a ball so I can start bowling right away!
• Balls can’t be picked up unless you get there after they spawn. This is most obvious when starting a new game, but occurs anytime you camp out by the gutters.
• I keep having to jump between keyboard and mouse. The simplest solution might be to let us click to bowl. Bonus points if we could use the keyboard to select our level up rewards.
• I’d love for more sound effects for whenever we pick up a ball, bowl, and level up. For example, the ball types could have different sounds as they roll and strike pins.

Keep it up!

I played this for two hours last night. This is such a labor of love that scratches a ton of itches. Keep it up!

Nice update!

This resolved the issue that prevented me from finishing Stage 1 in your previous version. I got Rank D on my first try and then Rank A on my second attempt.

You’re right that the volume differences are subtle. The toughest aspects of getting under par seem to be understanding which direction to turn is most optimal, and then not overshooting your turn before echolocating again. Once it’s in the center with full volume, it’s pretty easy to advance to the next round.

Also, the later stages are very smart in how they introduce more systems and mechanics that build into the very satisfying Stage 5. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to progress enough during the jam to recognize the depth in design here.

Cheers!

Great take on the endless runner genre. I especially like how it starts off very chill but gradually turns into a deeply challenging experience. Perhaps too challenging too quickly? One thing that I would like is for a button press to restart the game, like Enter, Space, or some face button on my gamepad. Keep it up!

Great concept and start. The first wave of my playthrough came after 20 minutes and could have been a little faster. This was mostly because I needed to explore a lot before finding all the resources that I needed to get running. Perhaps during world generation it might be helpful to spawn a little bit of everything within the initial line of sight (or at least wood, stone, fields, and gold). Keep it up!

Thanks for submitting this to Games for Blind Gamers 2 as well. I love the rebindable keys. Nice work!

My experience of this game was in two stages. First I was frustrated with the controls and lack of indication for melee combat, dying a dozen times. But then I found a launcher, which made me untouchable for floors! The controls got easier with practice. It was fun! but mostly with that weapon. Perhaps when a weapon is equipped, enemies are likely to carry them too, so when using a launcher you’re also worrying about the bullet hell. Keep it up!

Small and sweet entry. I love how enemy health is represented by the number of sides minus two. The physical movement very cool, but the player could stand to be a bit lighter and more responsive. I also relied so much on the minimap to play that it felt like cheating. Perhaps the overall camera could be farther so we see a bit more instead. This would play great with proper gamepad controls and some audio. Keep it up!

I love the snail! Very chill and had me playing until the end. The tutorial and platforming were great. At times the grappling hook felt imprecise and needed a few attempts to land where I needed, but that was a minor frustration. I’m curious where the items and skills I’ve acquired will take me next. Keep it up!

I enjoyed the low-poly aesthetic. I’m inexperienced with playing games like this, but I felt that the game was working against me as a player. My jumps felt too long and slow, and the hitboxes too large, making it difficult to navigate many of the tighter obstacles the generator was throwing at me. Options for audio volume could be helpful as well. Keep it up!

Great concept and start. I’d totally try this again after the below comments are addressed. The embed was overflowing my screen with the itch.io user interface on top. I solved this by zooming out my browser to 75%. Try changing the settings on your game page for this to open fullscreen when started, or provide a download next time. Keep it up!

This demonstrates a lot of potential. The movement controls and action timeline are great and hide a lot of complexity. This could very well be a mission near the middle of a much longer campaign. I would love for some simpler missions which introduce us to these larger strategic battles more gradually. Keep it up!

This may be unrelated, but the mouse controls after selecting an ability weren’t working for me in the browser. However, after downloading, they worked perfectly.

The mouse controls were really novel, but I reached for WASD a few times when clicking would orient me in the opposite direction that I was intending. Mostly it was toward me when I wanted to go further into screen space. Maybe to resolve ambiguities, the orientation favors the camera direction. The target controls (i.e. face, retrograde, etc.) were also very helpful.