itch.io

Wow this is a really a perfectly balanced that is really engaging. Are you a game dev student? All of your games seem to have great design and game play loops. Your genuinely incredibly talented and I want to know what was your strategy coming up with this idea and developing the game?

This game didnt really utilize the limitation much. It seems like that the games theme was mostly Autumn and "Staying Warm" was just added at the end. Since this is a visual novel the art and story are highlighted much more and this is great art for your first jam as the characters are in different poses which reflect their personalities.  There are a few things that can be improved such as the characters having different clothes and more detail and shading in the backgrounds (similar to the amount of love you give to the characters), but this is more nitpicky. Another nitpicky thing is the music, as the cozy tune was a good choice, but the music was more cafe cozy instead of cozy at a farm with rustic instruments or cozy country style music. Again this is nitpicky but something to be aware of.  The great thing about Itch is that there are lots of independent artists and musicians where you gat get assets (sometimes for free) to not only expedite the game dev process but also allow you to focus on your strength (such as writing and character design) while mitigating weak spots. I do this all the time as my strength is in coding and utilize itch for music and art. Overall, great start to jamming and I'm excited to see what you do in the future :)

Even with the tutorial, the game was a confusing to figure out. A lot of this is that the game needs more VFX and SFX. These can be used to indicate to the player how much more wood they need for the house and when the fire used up another piece of wood. The other issue that I experienced with this game is that it is quite difficult for new players. It seems like you have to move very quickly in the beginning or else it will be too cold for you to do anything other than getting fire. Using Flow Theory, this game is on the more anxious side as the difficulty if too high for a new players skill. 

With that said, the core game mechanic is quite unique, especially since it combines side scrolling checks with building mechanics and the small minigame of chopping the wood. I also liked the art style and for AI music its quite good.  

The main take away from this is that you have a good game that is just stuntend by it being too difficult for beginners and it needs more indicators to the player.

This is a quite creative take on the car driving type of games. Normally these types of games are difficult to make a game interesting since the player is just driving and maybe the goal is to not hit anything. This game adds another layer of depth to those games by having a minigame to fix different parts of the car which makes this game significantly more unique  and enjoyable. However, the drawback in this game is that it is difficult to tell how the player loses. There is no timer (until a random one appears in the top left) and it seems like problems happen in the car even if you dont hit anything. Overall this is a really creative take on the genre with a few minor issues. Great job :)

This is a really unique and well balanced puzzle game. The only things I recommend that this game can improve on is having cozy background music to improve the vibe, and having it where the player has to just click on the item instead of clicking and draggin (along with other UI improvements). Overall this is a creative and fun game with a few nitpicky things to improve on. Well done :)

The art in this game is good, but I ran into several bugs when playing this game. The two most notable ones were the upgrades overlapping each other and when I pressed the arrows I wasn't able to get to the door and it instead flipped to the other side of the screen. I also think this game could really use some cozy music to greatly enhance the atmosphere of the cozy environment. If your looking for good music, check out Alkakrab on Youtube as their stuff is free and really good. 

Overall, its a nice cozy game, but there are several bugs and other components missing that could really enhance the vibe this game is going for.

Its a unique game but as others have said the design isnt very intuitive. Overall the game is cool and I really like how the player slowly builds upgrades, but it would be nice to collect the items in different orders. For example, if I collect a pine cone but I am on the leaf section the pine cones dont bring me any closer to an upgrade. 

Thank you! There are a couple of theories that have really helped such as Flow Theory and Self-Determination Theory. There is also player archetypes by Bartels taxonomy and an updated version from the Quantum Foundry, however the Quantum foundry ignores a lot of other game archetypes since it’s a survey with 98% male (so the only type of social games that they consider are RPG type of games and ignore cozy games and visual novels). 
GDC is good but sometimes the talks don’t go into theory and the videos can be too long. Indie Game Clinic (IGC) is really good for finding literature and understanding game dev theory as the guy who runs it is a game dev professor. Jonas Tyroll is also good as he combines Game dev theory with application as he has made the game Thronefall which got 10k reviews. 

For books I recommend starting with The Design Of Every Day Things as it is not only good for game dev but general design. 

IGC recently made a video showing the different areas of game dev theory and honestly focusing on any area will help with game dev linked here:   

Yah looking back on it there were some things I would change, but im glad that it is still a fun game! Thank you for playing :)

Thanks for all the compliments I really appreciate it <3. I made an easier version of the enemies in my V1.2 game on my itch page to demonstrate Ludonarrative dissonance that this game has issues with, but thank you for your feedback and for playing :)

Yah that would be a cool idea! I was talking to someone in the comments about having a patch of Ice that can be used to have the enemies slide off the edge, but I should have made it that enemies stayed out of the campfires light. Anyways, thanks for playing and providing insightful feedback :)

Thank you :)  I did make an updated version with an extra level (called unique) to show the impact the Ludonarrative dissonance has on a game. Plus the updated version plays on mobile since most of my friends only play mobile games.

That is actually a really good idea! Having traps or special mechanics would have been a cool way to add more autonomy to the player. This can even blend in well with environment where there can be ice that the player can use to have enemies slide off a ledge. Also, thanks for playing and providing your insightful feedback :)

Thank you :) This is actually my 12th game jam this year, but my first time making a maze like this. However, I am a civil engineer and so the only way I am able to make games is after work and I started the year with not much game experience. Also, I really liked your game as well and excited to see your future projects :)

Yah I used the TileMap component in unity to make this but because some of the art has rocks that jut out it can sometimes cause the player to clip through the boundary. I tried to fix some of the more egregious ones by adding a small tree stump to block players (and the enemies) from getting clipped in tight corridors between rocks. 

But if it makes the game more fun, then Ill say it was 100% designed like that and definitely not a bug lol :)

Thank you :)

Mechanically they were good. The only thing is that I didnt understand when it would appear and to me they would appear randomly.

The vibe of this game is really nice, but finding food was quite difficult.

amazing game. This is one of my favorite ones so far as its simple and there are a lot of meaningful choices the player can make. Great work :)

I am a big fan of 4X games and this is a cool concept of a game. The main issue that this game has is not enough SFX or VFX. It is hard to tell when it is the next turn or if im clicking off the screen that shows the group. There is also a lot of information at once to the player for a game jam. But overall cool game :)

This is a cute game. I liked the theme and the artstyle and the game is pretty balanced. I was a bit confused on what the "Put Them at ease" is, but overall great game :)

This was a cute and simple game. I really liked the art, but it is confusing what is and isnt clickable. I think having a thin black outline around the parts that are interactable would make this better.

This is a great simple game. I really enjoy that you can choose the difficulty level as I normally suck at these games lol. The only thing I recommend improving is having some VXF happen (such as changing the arrow color temporarily) when you get the arrows correct as it is hard to tell in the moment if you hit the arrows at the right time or not. Otherwise great game :)

The art style and overall visuals are amazing. Great job on that! The controls you have are also good except for escaping the menus. This is a itch browser issue only, but when you press escape while in full screen it doesnt escape the tab in the game, but the entire game itself. The other issue I had with this game was that it was difficult to get things going in the game. Also the leaves should also be in the inventory since that is where players usual head to in order to burn things at the campfire. I liked that this was a tutorial, but it was a little too long for a game jam when players only give about 10 minutes of time dedicated to a game. Overall great game, but with a few nitpicky things :)

This is a very creative use of the limitation. I also liked how you introduced new concepts each level instead of all at once. There were a few bug I saw (such as the air balloon not returning when I lowered the campfire warmth in lvl 3). I also liked the use of SFX and VFX, but I do think that there should be arrows indicating where the air balloon is heading as well. The main issue I have with the game is the art style and lack of narrative in the game. You dont need to explain what is happening, but the art needs to convey that. Its not only hard to tell where I am but who I am as well. If the character was more blurred like a shadow or a walking flame that can convey who the character is and how they work (this is based off of the law of familiarity and that the character design has to be something that needs to be near warmth). This even goes into the environment as they look like squares of different colors instead of walls or grass. This is a little nitpicky but I think that the lack of relatedness from Self-determination theory is the main thing hurting this creative and well designed game.

This is a really well made cozy game. Amazing work. Gonna have my gf play this later :)

dam this is such a creative game. I love the voice acting and mechanics of the game blend in super well with the theme of the game. Amazing job you guys :)

As others have said the game has a really nice cozy vibe to it where the gameplay, music, and art style blend perfectly together. My main issue with the game is the collision and that it was hard to press some buttons. But overall, great job :)

Ive been reading about Self-Determination Theory recently and I think this game could give the player more choices. The game gets tedious for its duration as there are only a hand full of decisions the player can do during the game. Since this is a timer game, the challenge is to give the player enough choices of what to do without overwhelming them with too many choices. 

Outside of the gameplay, the art is great and I you guys utilized both the theme of Autumn and staying warm really well.  Good job :)

This is a cute game. I really like the art style and the visuals of the game. I honestly thought the fox would combust at the end due to all the heat if you got to 2500 heat points. Overall great game :)

Thank you :)

Thank you :) also since you tried the updated version, which one did you enjoy more? The unique level or the hard level? I mentioned in another comment here about Ludonarrative Dissonance, and I believe that my game has issues with that due to the enemies movement and music. Anyways, thank you for playing :D

This is a really fun game. Beautiful art and dynamic game play. Great job :)

I am normally not a fan of visual novels in game jams as they are usually too long and uninteresting. The constant motion and short poetic dialogue made this an amazing visual novels and one of the only ones I finished. Great job scoping the game well and for the beautiful music and visuals :)

No problem <3 making your own sound effects is fun and surprisingly easy. I normally make my own as well, however I ran out of time and there were a few sound effects I could not make (such as walking on snow). Anyways you did a great job so definitely be proud of yourself :)

The art is quite beautiful, however it is a little challenging figuring out how to get supplies in the tree. It seems like only one side of the tree allows you to put items in.

This is such a fun game. The goofy Doom-like game mechanics mixed with the amazing art is great and I love it all. I also appreciate how each enemy has a different sound effect for when they are getting devoured :)

Dont worry I made the same mistake in my game. I made the enemies too aggressive for a casual walking game. If your interested in more about this, I highly recommend looking up Ludonarrative Dissonance. It explains some of the issues with my game and most likely yours as well. :)

I really like the cozy vibe with the fun mechanic of throwing items to make food. Unfortunately the items dont stay together when they collide, so this makes making the quite difficult. I even tried throwing them together in the oven but the apple and breaks kept phasing through the sides of the oven. Although the game is difficult to play, you guys have a cool concept and one of the most creative takes of the limitation so far :)

Also, I highly recommend you have your game be a web build instead of a download game as that is a lot more accessible to players. I actually made a youtube video showing how to do it, as it is quick and easy 

Wow great job on this game. This is perfectly scoped and well made for this jam. I really like the small VFX you add to show when the player is too hot or too cold. Great job :)