I really liked this. Mostly it was pretty straightforward, but the filing rules progressively get more complicated.
One thing I didn't understand was how to distinguish between the two music boxes in the registry. I got a mid-game case wrong when I quarantined a music box because I thought it was the one that had the symbol of a circle with a line through it, which was supposed to be quarantined regardless of status, but apparently it was the other one?
This is really well-done! I enjoyed the process of unlocking documents and working out the relationships. I would love to read more about the history of Trevosa.
One minor issue I had was that I couldn't get the game to exit full-screen when I was finished. I pressed ESC and flailed a bit and in the process hit the X below the notes. And just like that, poof! All my notes were gone. A confirmation on clearing the notes would be appreciated. Fortunately I was already done with the game. I had to refresh the page in order to close the game and read the comments, though.
I don't understand how research happens. I'm getting knowledge points but there's nowhere to use them? Just started phase 4. Other than that, this has been fun so far, although I've been very wary of hiring workers because I nearly ran out of money once.
Edit: Now in phase 5, still no idea about research. Also I built an Excavation Rig but immediately it said all buried contamination cleared. That seemed like a waste of 80 scrap then. Where should I be building them? Not all zones even offer the option.
Edit: Nearly finished. Finally found the research! Lovely progression from cleanup to restoration.
I'm just wondering if there's a bug with energy generation. I built a solar panel and then a solar field, but my power generation is still 0. Also the wetland boardwalk unlocked before I researched Sanctuary Ecology.
The bug is that the screen went black after the credits and didn't return to the game, but was completely unresponsive. Surely that's not what you intended, because it's confusing, and it takes the player completely out of the game to restart it before being able to continue the post-game content. Also I saw no indication that the goal is to "complete" the mind's eye; I thought the mind's eye was just a visualization tool to aid in solving, which I didn't find necessary, so I didn't look at it much. I was attempting to complete each location's events, but I couldn't, because there were people I couldn't find. Again, it's confusing. I'm just reporting these behaviors so you can consider whether you can make it less confusing in the future. I really love the game and hope this feedback helps make it better for everyone.
This is an amazing game! I enjoyed the fantastic writing and historical depth as well as the process of uncovering what happened when and where.
Bug report: After I clicked "Complete Investigation" on the final report and watched the ending credits, the screen stayed black and never returned to the game for the extra content. I was able to refresh the page and re-enter the game, and the report was still available, so I hadn't lost any progress. Yet the extra content doesn't seem to be accessible. I don't think I've seen the epilogue, and there are several locations with scenes I cannot retrieve because there are people I cannot see yet.
I just tried replaying after finishing the prototype, and I think there must be a bug or glitch somewhere on PC (I played on mobile first). Even knowing how the interface works and what the answers are, I am unable to get the records keeper to generate the yearbook. I have the two pieces connected and lit up, and yet the records keeper edge doesn't do anything. So I just went back to mobile and tried again, and there it works just fine.
Update: I managed to get the yearbook by turning the arrows around the other way, and I identified the victim, but I can't then use the name to get any more information from the records keeper. I tried lining up the arrows the same way as for the yearbook, by pointing out of the Lookup Person edge (and many other combinations as well), but the hexes never light up and I can't get any response. Why is looking up a person different than getting information from an institution? Edit: I managed to get cause of death, but only by following the screenshot, which was completely counter-intuitive to me.
Edit2: Managed to finish the prototype. It would certainly help to have some sort of feedback when items are connected in the right order but aren't the right answers, or when the wrong kind of item is connected. I spent so long on two things: trying to connect the key to the locker (was that locker just a red herring?) and trying to connect names to the records keeper (wrong item) and the next of kin (wrong name). I think now that I've finished the prototype, I kind of understand the interface better, but it took a lot of trial and error. It'd be helpful to show specific examples before throwing the user into an actual puzzle. The screenshots were helpful but showed outright solutions to a few pieces of the one puzzle that's available. Hope you can generate more puzzles soon.
I can't figure out how to use the yellow link hexes. The process is quite opaque. I have information to look up using the records keeper, but no combination seems to do anything. I also know which wound happened in what order, but no idea what to actually do with them to represent this information.
It was not obvious at first that I could rotate the hexes, but I had to figure out how to do it to open the combination lock. I then tried rotating the yellow links to make their gray lines point into their targets, but even that doesn't seem to do anything. This mechanic seems like a "read the author's mind" puzzle, unfortunately. What am I missing?
Seconding this step being completely opaque. I've tried putting the school and year adjacent to the records keeper in many different ways, but I cannot get the edges to respond at all. I'm completely stuck here and can't find any more information about how I'm supposed to do this. Help, please? I like this puzzle method in general and would like to see more.
The game looks neat, but unfortunately it doesn't work properly on mobile. I understand it's not really designed for it, but it's so close. I was able to look at the skill tree and generate a world. Tapping on buttons works fine, as does long-pressing on skill nodes to see costs. But then the worlds don't let me harvest anything. Too bad the main game action doesn't work at all.
Just a followup that I did manage to finish the game. The getaway was very tense, but I managed it! I still didn't find the other two gems, but overall I think the game was very nearly the perfect length for its content. I would have started to get tired of drawing the map if there was very much more of it, at least without a few QoL improvements like being able to draw straight lines or annotate with letters/symbols. The skull was an amusing companion (the humor reminded me a bit of Arthur from Buried in Time (Journeyman Project 2)) and I liked the variety of puzzles. I'd love to see more in this vein.
Great job on the puzzles and also the voice acting. But I really wish there was a save function so I could return to the game later. I've made a lot of progress but can't find two of the four gems. I hope one isn't in the fire room. There's also a corner with a torch I can't get to, so I must have missed a connecting corridor somewhere, but I can't find that either. If I could find all the gems, I suspect I might be able to get the skull out, but alas...
I have reached end of content after 1743 years lived. I was genuinely looking forward to the next realm still, so good job on an engaging game. I would also like to know what the ???? skill was in the skill list that never unlocked.
This was the cultivation progression game I never knew I needed until I found it. I enjoyed optimizing progression over multiple resets in order to get farther each time. I was also reading Taran Matharu's Dragon Rider at the same time, which I didn't even realize was a cultivation-inspired novel until I was partway through, so that was a neat convergence.
Honestly I was shocked at the twist after the first section of the game: I thought that was going to be the end of the game, and then I discovered it was only a sort of prologue to the real game. That was good because alchemy was kind of broken, in the sense that I almost completely maxed out my lifespan in a single reset and then maxed out the stats in the same reset.
The game really does need a native English proofreader to go through the text before releasing a final version, though. I'd be happy to help with that. A few of the typos I saw:
"increses" should be "increases" in the "Gaining insights" description
"traing" should be "training" in the "Training mastery" description
"powerfull" should be "powerful" in the Meditation help screen
Hope you continue to develop this game! There's a lot of potential here.
I was enjoying this a lot until I got to the third stage - I've got all the clues, but now I'm in a different mode with a very different sort of voice that just spews profanity at me after gloating about its crimes. I feel like I've failed Cheree and this is quite unpleasant. What power do I have to make things better? Any possibility of retaining the general nature of the character (trying to avoid spoilers here) while toning down the profanity?
Almost to level 10 now. Amusingly, I said "that's fun" to a comment she made in Bassey Study about the books, and she said, "What scrapbook? Or what about a scrapbook? I think you're getting ahead of things." I know from the other comments that there will be a scrapbook later, but I hadn't mentioned it! I don't know where that reply came from.
