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I know this is from years ago now; I just need you to know that when I need a good laugh I read your comment to cheer me up

Thanks for taking the time to play!

Would you have any feedback for expanding mechanics beyond narrative choices? I had thought about things, but given the time ran out of being able to develop anything else. At some point you had been able to jump and wanted to do something with exploring vertically and catching the little spirits, but didn't have time to create a jumping animation/vertical space without compromising on other things. 

Hope the past few weeks have gone well, still love the background on Forest of Calamity :D

So I return to this comment because you said something here I found fascinating and it put me on a trajectory all throughout the week: lyricism. So much so that I ended up buying a book as soon as I saw, which was Game Poems by Jordan Magnuson, which describes game design as lyrical practice. I've just started it and so far feel like I have had multiple game design epiphanies around the conversations I was attempting to touch on in this prototype, largely around the value of lusory attitude and openness within players to experience new concepts through play! It honestly feels like something in the back of my mind I've been gnawing on for the past decade clicked into place.

I highly suggest it! It's available for free online as a pdf as well. Thank you so much for describing the project that way, it has been a wonderful week of thinking about game design again :D

Hey! I made a weird narrative game solo for a jam, and I would love for folks to check it out and let me know their thoughts. I am trying to think of ways to improve it overall, so feedback is very welcome :D

https://theshepherdshound.itch.io/wonscotonach

Thank you so much for taking the time! It is the second time I have tried animating frame by frame (I tried maybe about 2 years ago doing some like bouncing calls and so on), I tend to try out new skills and come back to them later. There's lots of fascinating things about animation to me. I have also tried doing puppeteering animation in Unity maybe like... 6 years ago? But it takes so much time to make a rig so I figured it would be faster (?) to try doing some frame by frame. I was originally doing the characters at 12 frames, but I think I ended up reducing Garrison/Ashbridge/Taddle/Don down to 6 cause the impact wasn't really doing much. Was a ton added to the overall experience because they wiggle a bit? I dunno. I enjoyed doing it, and it was something nice to swap to whenever my brain started to hurt from coding.

I just like adding limbs to things! But that is a wonderful takeaway. I just think it makes them wacky and joyful. Theming wise it does line up super well, and thanks for pointing it out to me. Gives me all the more reason to ADD MORE LEGS.

The main alley definitely suffers for my lack of composing or planning and I will fully admit that the camera movement is in hope of dusting a bit of that under the rug. It sat in a strange beta space for most of the project, and while doing lighting I ran into lighting layering issues I just didn't have time to work through. Because I was kind of just moving forward on vibes and let a lot of it develop itself overtime (which is kind of the best thing about soloing) I didn't think a ton about the space until that last period. If I do anything with it again, I would spend more time boarding the alley. Colour has never really been a strong suit for me design wise, and I should've spent more time picking a palette rather than just using the colour picker randomly lololol. As a random fun developer forgot: the water in the cave wasn't supposed to be that colour, that teal is the colour I use for sketching and is just the layer from the sketch I did while doing to board. I usually only use monochromatic blue when drawing, which actually might make a cool visual aesthetic?

I really wish I had been able to figure out Speech Bubbles, which is a Yarn Spinner companion. I had lots of ideas of what to do with the line displays (if anyone knows how to make spritesheet animation UI in Unity PLEASE TELL ME), but gave up after about 3 hours because it was becoming a time sink. Because of that, they are very large whenever a character talks, so the low opacity was to allow you to still see the characters. There's a ton of tiny things like that that are so frustrating because polish is so hard already, and time is so little on a project. I am still waffling on if I will spend time fixing it but I did submit it to a few events, so perhaps if I'm accepted I'll revisit making better line displays overall.

Honestly animating Clarence was the main driver of the project; I didn't really think much of what it was going to be about until I started working on a raccoon! Now I have all these raccoon gifs to show people.

Heck yeah friend, getting and giving feedback is definitely my favourite part about things like this. Doing critique is genuinely one of the only things I have ever missed about art school, it's nice to be in a space with peers who deeply know the field you're in to discuss all the small details- it's fun!

If you haven't checked it out, I highly suggest Game Feel by Steve Swink for developing movement things further, it's a tomb but has lots of good advice.

I mean hey, this is published so that's one thing knocked out! It's normal to not necessarily be motivated to continue on a project after a sprint, so if you need to let yourself rest. Best of luck on the job hunting, I'm excited to see whenever you release the bartending RPG!

Since I am on mac I can't necessarily give any feedback on the mechanics or game feel, so this is based off of what I can see from the video and going through your GDD.

Things I like:

I do really like the wackiness of the concept. I'm not sure as to how it is presented in game but it's straight forward enough from the GDD that I know what to do and expect from the story without too much excess fluff. I feel like there's a ton of humour in concept, and would love to see more of the story!

Steve being a worm train is excellent. It makes the movement feel fun, and because it's a mishmash concept I assume any controlling jank is easily written off by the concept itself. Weird to control? Well what else can you expect from a worm train?? Has an essence of Choo-Choo Charles but wholesome, and I like that. 

Absolutely no notes of the music beyond GOOD FREAKING JOB that's sick, I think it gives it a really soulful vibe and adds a lot to the overall presentation.

Things to improve:

The textures, from what I can see from the video, could use a pass for compression consistency. I'm trying to remember the word I mean lol. But the scaling between things feels off, like much denser on Steve but stretched on objects. Just a polish thing, but I thing it tightens it up visually. I think something like Shelter would be good to check out for visual inspiration here.

Since this is jam work this isn't a bad thing tbc, but the models feel a bit basic and could use some flair. I think in the environment in particular (the fire especially) a few more passes would bring them up significantly. I think leaning into the PS2 aesthetic that's already been brought up would be fantastic. Given the relative absurdity of the concept, I think twisting the forms of the trees would bring a lot of personality to the overall scene. The character models have a lot more going on for them, but the scene could also do some lifting in the game overall.

Similarly  the particle effects feel default, and some experimentation with either trails or different shapes would make them pop. Right now they feel like "You need to pay attention to this" in a factual way, and would be much more engaging with a revisit to them aesthetically.

EDITED: Wanted to add I fully agree on the UI stuff already said, this is definitely the weakest aspect of the project (which I assume you know). Basically anything here would be an improvement but specifically I think text scaling would make it much easier on the eyes to read

Final thoughts:

The fact with a two person team, making your own engine, AND with this being a first project with the engine this is awesome. While of course there are improvements to be made, overall I think it's a strong project. Genuine hope you keep working on it after the jam, or I see it pop up in events. Interested to see both the studio and project grow, and good luck in future projects :D

I agree with your own assessments of what can be improved, so a lot of my feedback will be similar but from an outsider perspective.

Visually, stunning. I love the overall styling of the game. I do think because so much is happening, you could do with more visual hierarchy between the player/obstacles from the background. You do a bit of it with the fire, but because of that it was unclear if it was now a background elements or something I needed to worry about. It quickly becomes visually overwhelming for what I need to be focusing on, to the detriment of the overall experience.

Since it's a jam game, I see not fault in this really only being one level. But the difficulty is very high, and I agree that the boss should've come at the end of the level after having some time to acclimatize to the controls. I'm on trackpad, so difficult may be increased by that, but I played on easy and found it hard to complete. If you choose to continue working on it in the future, this is what I think needs to be most seriously ironed out. It can be punishingly difficult maybe 3-5 levels in, but feels near impossible to finish being thrown directly into the gameplay. Even just some space to learn the controls I think would've helped me a lot to feel more confident to keep trying. Without that it's easy to put down as it feels a bit brickwall-ish and thus overall unappealing to finish. 

I don't really understand if I am trying to help the bees /beetles? I seemingly trying to save something, which could be houses but I took them as the bug's houses. So felt strange they were annoyed with me while trying to put out the fire. Even just a bit of set up here would help me have motivation beyond "I am being hit by things and that is bad". Maybe there's a way to get them to help me? Seems it might be in their best interest to also not burn in a fire, so maybe the addition of some rogue-like elements where I have more options to control the scenario would be fun.

I actually like the question of "Is this even a victory?" if you cheese it. Something interesting about the question of achieving a goal in technicality but failing in all other aspects, it gives the win some layers. I see it as a happy consequence of the design flaws that come with it being a jam game, and could be an interesting expansion on the theming you have if you continue development.

I do think some serious playtesting would've helped the project overall, and it shows that there is a lack of it. But as is, it's a very good prototype. The fact that the greatest feedback or flaws I can reasonably point to are polish and difficulty tweaks speak to the quality of the project overall. You did a fantastic job! :D

While I can't play your game as I'm not on windows, your GDD has an interesting set of mechanics. As there isn't much else I can go on, do you have a video of gameplay? Your capsule looks good, so I am curious to see what else you have going on in the project

It does! Thanks for taking the time to write it out. The only feedback that is currently in for the items is the flames change colour based off their 'value'. I think exploring being able to look at them would be a really interesting way of exploring their relevance to the characters. For Ashbridge in particular, the change of context for the letter I think would be nice.

I hadn't really thought about the connection until speaking with a friend, but there's definitely the falling in the sky of Spirited Away conversation with Kohaku and remembering who he is aspect to the characters. Since I made the designs before I decided they were rivers or really any stories, it was fascinating how well their designs ended up lining up. Garrison is violent and sharp, but chooses to be calm and comforting and so is a place that others can feel safe and protected. Ashbridge is an amalgamation of others, and so carried the ghosts of others inside them. Taddle is forgotten and unknown, wearing a mask to hide their vulnerabilities. 

It was a super healing project in so many ways! It makes me happy to hear that the intended reading of the story came though, that's super cool :D

Yeah. While I wouldn't trade it for all of the amazing things in 2.8, it would've been awesome to have another open source engine kicking around. Particularly cause Blender has such a long history, it would've been really interesting to see what they would've come up with. Ahh well, in another timeline we're all enjoying games built it in :(

I appreciate hearing that so much, it means a tremendous amount to me. It always brings me joy to see folks start making games because there really can't be a better feeling I have experience than seeing your game running and someone playing it (despite the horrifying shame of seeing all of the tiny things you missed and wishing you could rebuild it RIGHT NOW just to fix them). It's exciting to poke through your back log, I hope you keep jamming and creating!

Thanks so much for your kind words! There are elements here that I think I would like to continue, I like the beginnings of a bunch of the wider thoughts being explored. I wrote a bit about them in my post mortem posts, after visiting the Garrison monument and thinking. 

For your notes (which thank you so much for taking the time!)

I went back and forth on 10 minutes, particularly as it was the first amount of time I chose, and got various amounts of feedback on it. It's how the very broken going back to Don via Clarence came about, so you didn't need to wait it out if you chose to skip. The countdown is artificial either way, and multiple folks who played it spent the whole 10 minutes so I chose to leave it that way. It's meant mostly to put pressure on the idea that you have to fix this as quickly as possible. But healing doesn't work that way, it takes as much time as it will and no outside and arbitrary pressure can change that.

Poor Taddle, my broken child LOLOLOL. I think if I do something like this again (beyond carrying the knowledge forward) I would set up seperate bools for each loop; my folly was my lack of planning on how many there would be and trying to sneak in tiny conversations here and there at the end to pull it tighter together. I learned about half way through about Yarn Commands, which is how the animations are called (and is the most common cause of that issue). The final ending sequence was broken up until the last half hour due to my badly managed code! Makes me sad 'cause Taddle's story is all about being forgotten and unheard, so I feel I did them a disservice in not taking as much care as I should've debugging them.

I am very much on the fence about interfacing more information. Part of the issue is balancing games literacy; when I've handed the project to folks who don't play games and they ask what WASD means, it's always a challenge to think about how much info to provide. Would knowing the secret value for the breaking of the cycle help them? Or would it be more confusing? I fully admit it was put together in a 'good enough' sense, so I'd be delighted to know if you had anymore specific thoughts on what you would've found helpful or guiding while playing!

If you're comfortable, I'd love to hear about what you felt the game was telling you! I've mulled over it's meaning to me over the past week, or what I was even trying to say, and come to more conclusions that I think I thought of going in. It's something I love so much about making a project like this, so if you're up for sharing, I'd love to listen.

That's awesome, apiary stuff is so cool! I'm excited to see where it goes

OOF, UPBGE is such a strange engine; anytime I've ever tried to play something made in it it has been unhappy being played. But it's sad they stopped supporting it, it was a really interesting project, especially coming from Blender. Such is the way of tech, but I'd be interested in hearing about your experience using it.

buahahahha, that is a silly little concept! I think reading over the feedback given by folks I'd agree the spread seems really fast, and can see how it might be overwhelming. What was the engine you ended up going with?

No shame in missing something you didn't think about, cause now you know to think about it next time! You're a better programmer than you were 3 weeks ago. Give your brain some time to rest and digest what you've learned, things might come for this project or they might not. 

I made my game idea generator for that reason, and it was super fun and helpful whenever I got blocked (and as someone who has struggled with code, was very easy to make as it's basically a bunch of arrays and a debug log LOLOLOL).

If it's a genre you like, keep chipping away at it. You made a fun little thing, and I think it came out really well

Such is the way with making things. But you have the skills to make it better, faster, and more robust next time now. You might find looking away from it for a while helpful, or to stare it it so close you can see the pixels on your screen. Both are valid ways to evaluate what you'd like to do next time. 

Just a gentle reminder to be kind to yourself when making something, you did a great job and you will see all the flaws no one else can because you're so close. If you'd like feedback let me know, otherwise I'm happy to hype you up cause YOU. MADE. A. GAME!!!!!

Thank you so much for your kind words! I spent some time playing Mage Knight, and it is DEFINITELY hard on a trackpad. The music is awesome?? Love to see where it goes if you continue

This is such a chill game, the music is nice. Ran into a bug in level 16 where it cleared me despite not having gotten the colours together. But I love this type of little game, was a lot of fun and think it would do pretty well. I think there's some polish which would make the overall experience have a bit more juice, but it's super solid and definitely works and is a pleasant little puzzle game where it is right now!

tyty! I had a lot of fun making it, even if I can see all the flaws and things it could've been I am so very proud to have tried being solo and actually having something to upload at the end of it

I cry in Mac, but will if I get the chance!

*gentle kicking out of sight the 7 builds I did between originally posting and the final 4 minutes before the deadline because I accidentally set the default ending to the secret one* hahaha... yeah definitely wasn't stressful at the end there at all

But honestly what you folks put together looks sick, would spread jam/10

For folks who would like to play but not download, I put a web version up of the game. No alterations or additions have been made from the version submitted to the jam, so any reported bugs or commented issues will remain the same if you play

https://theshepherdshound.itch.io/wonscotonach-web

That's awesome! Do you know when you might be releasing it or keep noodling away for a while?

buahahaha, I love this, especially the wet thwap sound of hitting things. this made me laugh, congrats on finish it despite your hardship with executive dysfunction! I'd love to see this up on Steam at some point

This interpretation of "it's spreading" is super cool, plus making pierogies is fun. The different shapes is a neat addition to that, so you don't end up wasting dough (curious about the bin mode though?). Especially for your first time 2D, I think it stylistically came out really great, the colour choice to is a fun way of focusing the player on their goal. Would use a cup over a cookie cutter to put my pierogi dough/10

I think yours is one of the first games I played right after the submissions closed, thankyouthankyou for adding the controls diagram! Poking around your GDD I can see the Untitled Goose game influence, it's silly and fun and I think you folks did a fantastic job

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESssss

The aesthetics of your project are awesome, and your GDD is so polished! What a fun concept. Makes me think about the monks and the giant slugs/snails being killed by knights, like the weird fears depicted the medieval art period are such an interesting art to explore with a project like this. Oh god not the bees/10

I poked around your GDD, it was interesting to read you final thoughts on the process of making the game at the end. You did it! It is a game! It's exciting to hear you'll be continuing the project on twitch, best of luck on the learning and polish

This is such a fun interpretation of the theme, and it came out looking so nice! The colours especially, I think overall the aesthetic and visual design is super tight and consistent on this. Gives me like vapourwave airport for aliens currently run by dogs vibes. 

holy heck for a first dip you folks went hard, and it really shows! LIKE??? Even with whatever flow issues you were all having with working asynchronously, it feels really joyful. Great job

The way your game and page seamlessly exist together is sosososo cool, overall this is such a fun little game

lolololol this is awesome, everything works super well together and it came out looking rad. I love seeing your GDD having all those finished green text in there, genuine hoping you release this- especially if you get through all your polish goal. Farting clown/10

The light mechanic reveal is a really great concept, I can see you folks making lots of cool puzzles with it. ALSO AN HOUR OF GAMEPLAY?? That in an of itself is an achievement given the timespan of the jam. Best of luck on polish, it looks so good already :D

I love how chaotic this looks?? I can't play b/c Mac, I really like the little snippet devlog updates along the way. I'd love to see any video of it being played if you got any

This came out looking really cool! I like the aesthetic a lot, and the ship especially. I think you did a great job of capturing the Metrovania genre 

Give me a ping once it's up if you have the time and I'll play through it~

Taddle is hardest; they were the last to be added. I think it's just one node that connects you to the Taddle best tree which is why, which was an oversight while I was going back through hastily trying to knit things together a bit tighter to make the content easier to get to after folks were having trouble going through more than one loops' content (I would say there's roughly 2.5 loops? The third has a lot of overlap with the 2nd unless you make very specific choices). It really  would've helped if I had flowcharted things out first, but by the time I really thought about it I was too deep to think about trying TT___TT

Thanks so much for your kind words! I really love the vibe of Gossip At Terrestrial High, the palette especially! While I can't play it as I'm on Mac, you folks at Team Wet look like you put so much into it, and it looks from what I can see really great. I LOVE the Invader Zim callout in the GDD! Hope you folks keep working together, I'd be interested to see what you all make next