itch.io

THE WAY YOU CARRY PLANTS!! OMG.

I love this idea, it's so cute, and very creative! It's surprising how much depth and gameplay you're exploring for a jam game.

Admittedly I did get quite confused a few times, and this was mostly due to me not reading/remembering the full description as I played haha - so I don't want to belabor on that too much. But one really simple thing that could help with immediate clarity would be maybe adding a description/use of your held item while you're carrying it around.

The puzzle mechanics were unexpectedly awesome! The bush providing a soft landing is such a cool mechanic, and feels appropriately different than the mushroom and tree.

Your description has too many apologies hehe <3 I liked your game and the ideas it presented!
I hope you three get a chance to finish it up soon!

First, just wanted to mention that I confirmed that the game's speed depends on the refresh rate of my monitor. That's because you set the frame rate and draw rates both to 144hz. I would honestly say it's a bug for HaxeFlixel that it doesn't properly run multiple updates per requestAnimationFrame to catch up to your target framerate - and that it should just do vsync o_o. But by default, HaxeFlixel recommends 60fps, so maybe most people just don't typically encounter this problem, idk. I changed my monitor to 144hz and got to experience it as you intended <3

BUT YES, it's an awesome platformer game!! You really loaded Chekhov's gun with the random jumpscare and subtle allusion that the sunflower is deaf, but that kept me on my toes as I played, expecting something weird to happen at any moment.

I do love a good wall-jumping platformer, and this one had a satisfying level of difficulty!

I also loved that this had a rising-water challenge at the end! While I feel like those shouldn't really have dead ends on it, there really only were one or two here, so it's fine; it added a tiny bit of path memorization skill under pressure, which is cool. But for fairness, I would suggest maybe making spikes a liiittle bit more lenient, like having spikes not kill you if you merely land near them on a wall-grab. Making hitboxes a little in favor of the player is always a good way to lean haha.

Nicely done making a full game for the jam despite losing some time on a different idea! It's fun, and you really undersell the effort that goes into adding dialog and triggers and an end sequence and all that.

Also.. is... is that loss??

Parkourrr rabbittttttt

Dude this was GREAT! The progression was really tight; gradually levelling up and gaining new abilities not only felt powerful, but also helped teach the mechanics nicely.

The physics on the character controller are pretty robust and lenient, and the rotation of the rabbit helped convey what action was happening, so I always felt like there was sufficient feedback to my actions.

I like how players will naturally raise an eyebrow to the juxtaposition of the peaceful music and saw blades. But when you make a deadly mistake, it makes the change in mood so much more impactful haha!

The difficulty ramp felt appropriate for a game jam, and the reward at the end felt well earned. The graphics were simple, but very pleasant and appropriate.

I guess my only question now is - who put all these saws out here? To protect the one and only holy carrot?? Am I (the rabbit) the villain all along for taking it??? ;D We need the lore!

It also took me so long to fully grasp what was going on lol, but I am actually quite fond of the concept here, and the mechanics are SUPER creative and unique!!

Perhaps a more visual wrapper around things & some sort of tutorialization would have gotten me past the confusion. Like a preview of what each card will do if you apply it, on hover, for example.

In terms of balance, once small change I'm thinking about is, maybe the total mass of the root system would be a better metric to use to track the progress towards flowering?

I would love to see the flower sprout at the end, atop my final root system! Perhaps different decisions the player makes would lead to different types of flowers, or something.

But gosh this simulation environment is so neat, I want to build a whole garden from it!

They say perfection doesn't exist.
They say game jams only spawn demos.
And yet... here we are: the perfect game.

haha but really this is unironically a clever game. It's so ridiculously minimal, while fitting the theme and still somehow being interesting. It abuses my brain in just the right way to be fun: the tantalizingly amount of strategy combined with absurd random chance is an addictive combination. It reminds me of that old "Find a Four Leaf Clover" Flash game (by BugMater / Game24).

I just wish it had an in-game restart button!

And! I believe I am the first to get it in "1 clicks" WOOOO!!!!

Cutscenes, character design, lore, sound design, all sorts of special effects, intricate gardening and combat systems ON A 3D ICOSPHERE PLANET IN SPACE WITH LIGHTING.

I'm in absolute awe of your ambitions! I really hope you will follow through beyond this deadline to give your idea the proper time it deserves to shine.

Hopefully it's understandable that I'm hesitant to give fine-tuned feedback here lol. But overall, yeah I'd suggest reducing the demo into a vertical slice before tackling details like cutscenes and combat. Just navigating the planet and locking in how the crops work could provide a satisfying game loop to build off of! It legit seems like a really cool idea and I'm confident in your ability to execute it!

Rad main character art btw! \🌻/

Charming little platformer you got here!

At first I thought I was stuck, because the jump height was set too low... but it seems like you thought about that situation and generously gave the player 3 water to start! That helped me learn the mechanic and that felt great. Nicely done!

The win/lose messages are funny. Never have I seen a game say "groovy" at the end, and ... I love it hahaha

I think there's lots you could do to expand on this for sure! Aside from having more levels requiring the user plan more carefully, maybe there could be enemies that eat plants when they encounter them! Or keys and doors, pushable plants, etc. Stuff like that could turn this from a jam game into a full game! :D

What a cool and unique idea!

I love all the different directions you tried taking it in too: resource management, a painting tool, and a rhythm game.

But ultimately I was really wow'ed by your concept of maximizing your connections while minimizing your footprint, so to speak. It naturally lead to some really organic structures, which was really cool to see.

I played around with cellular automata that had similar rules (on a grid), and it was one of my favorite generative projects simply because of how strangely natural it looks, so I KNOW you have something here that could be fascinating.

Here's a suggestion: with every turn, the oldest parts of the roots could become rigid, so the player cannot build upon them. That way, the player has to carefully build up the root's foundations (but not too much!) before moving closer to the next nutrient/goal. It's a balance between structure and progress.

TBH I really enjoyed the challenge of the rhythm game, the sudden increase in energy was exciting haha - I love when moody stuff gets funky haha! It just is funny how it throws you into it out of nowhere.

Lot of cool ideas here, a love jam entry!

TIL the word "moor"! :D

I think one of my favorite parts was reading your level messages in the corner, haha - it added a lot of character and kept me wondering what would happen next. It goes to show that some sort of story is immediately engaging for a game.

I keep thinking that it'd be fun to see a version of this with more game mechanics. Maybe holding the mouse down makes the anchor unravel quicker so you can avoid obstacles (like fish). Or maybe the rock to anchor to is moving for some reason, so you have to plan in advance where to aim (not sure how that would make sense narratively, haha).

Anyway, great job finishing your first game jam!! I'll look forward to seeing your next one!

I'm so impressed you put a sort of emotional core to this jam game! It's quite ambitious to make a rhythm game with an animated story set to multiple custom pieces of music (one with lyrics!)...!!

Repercussions for failing was probably out of scope for the jam, but presenting a score should at least improve the opportunity for replayability. If the game said I got like a B-, it'd definitely motivate me to keep trying to get an S-tier grade :)

For the UI and first-time experience, I'd suggest going with traditional arrow shapes for left & right, just for immediate clarity. Also could help to *neutrally* acknowledge the player for pressing the keys before the level starts, since they're likely exploring. I know it doesn't really count against the player currently, just thinking about overall perception haha

I really hope you keep pursuing your interests here! The Haxe community obviously loves rhythm games lol so your contributions to this genre would be welcomed in a heartbeat.

Overall, your game felt really cohesive and meaningful, and was definitely fun! Really nice work!!

Lovely mining game!

It was fun to try out all the different interactions, and I see a ton of potential to expand on this in so many ways! For example, interactions between bats & boulders, more ways how bombs could interact with stuff, adding items like ropes/ladders and their interactions with the level... the possibilities seem endless!

I think my biggest suggestion would be to give the player a goal or conflict up front to act as the motive. Like, maybe the player needs to buy something expensive as part of a story, and that can only be achieved by progressing far into the game. Or maybe there's a competing mining company that you're trying to be better than, somehow. Just something to drive the core gameplay loop ^^

...wait who's putting these doors at the bottom of the levels O_O

What better way to appeal to the theme by interpreting it in ALL the ways, rather than just one? I loved the pacing and variety of the game; it was fast enough to be engaging, but not too fast as to be totally confusing. The UI and audio complemented the game and gave it a great personality.

From a gameplay perspective, I would love to see the difficulty ramp not necessarily always be time-based, but generally skill-based (which could actually lead to their being a longer timer as you progress). For example, you could start with shorter patterns for the "drinking rootbeer" game, and getting longer with each level. Same with the sqrt puzzle, asking about higher and higher numbers.

Great overall presentation and fun collection of mini games!! Good job!

Great post, thank you for sharing your thoughts!

I ran across this game on Friday, and I have to say - this was the perfect amount of challenge for a weekend to leave me feeling accomplished and satisfied. I loved it!

You mentioned the "brute force" vs. "finding constraints" balance, which I too thought about as I played. Maybe some of that came at the end, where the "i" challenges introduced an environment that made it harder to lock tiles to. There were levels where I felt I just had to try things first, but I think that's a reasonable thing to expect when presented with a bunch of interacting constraints.

It's a beautiful game. It certainly didn't need to be an open world with a individualized branching path for it to be a memorable and quality game to me. ❤

Welp it's been a week since launch, and I've been talking with players outside of itch, noting feedback and uncovered any bugs.
The bugs will be fixed in 1.0.1, coming soon.

Bug reports:

• Lab Lights: Multiple users have reported invisible levels.
• Lab Lights: The end screen whites out. You must walk upwards out of the room to complete the game.
• ARBF: Clearing your save also clears the bundle achievements.
• Snowman Slide: Clearing your save also clears in-game achievements (but does not clear bundle achievements).
• Str1ngle: Crash on launch with Intel HD Graphics 3000 (Windows 7 - 2011 driver). If you happen to encounter a crash, I can provide a working version. Unfortunately, this will not be fixed in 1.0.1 unless further investigation is done.

Feedback/balancing:

• Hexagon Tribute: It is particularly difficult! I am afraid of reducing the difficulty, because it is meant to be a challenge, however it does stand out against the others.
• Dynamole: It is strange that there is an achievement not viewable in-game. Should it be added to the in-game achievements menu, or remain bundle-only?

 
I appreciate all the feedback!
I'm happy to hear the bundle is generally stable and well received so far! Watch out for 1.0.1, and I hope you have a great day!

Bug Report Thread

Hi! I just wanted to start a thread for bug reports and known issues to help answer questions during launch.
If you encounter any big show-stoppers, please let me know so I can help work through it.

Things I'd love to improve post-launch:

1. The unzipped file size is 198 MB.
   This is due to 12 identical "lime.ndll" files. Currently I do not know of a workaround, but I would like to work with the Lime community to solve this! We can get it under 100 Megabytes without these files.
   
2. Support for Mac and Linux. 
   This should be totally possible, however I don't have a setup for making these builds yet.
   
3. Calming down antiviruses about it being an unsigned (untrusted) app.
   I really don't know best practices here. Someone has received a scary "operation did not complete successfully" error from Windows Defender, but reopening the app solved the issue. I'm not sure the extent of the problem, so let me know if you encounter issues and how I can help!
   
4. A console window showing up next to the games.
   This is more of a tiny annoyance, though I can't find a solution at the moment.

Issues?

I'm sure there are issues I have overlooked or hardware that the games simply don't work on yet. Please send me a message so I can help :)

Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

I know there was progress on a full Linux version, but ultimately, right now we don't immediately support it. We have heard varying success from Windows emulator users, but the experience with that will probably never be optimal.

I believe the game is tagged with Linux because we have a Linux demo available. I can see how that would be misleading though, so I'll ask the team about that.

Thanks again, and I hope this at least helps clarify our intentions here! Also, thank you for supporting the bundle!

Hey! Thank you for supporting the bundle and for checking out Golden Treasure.

I'm glad the issue fixed itself after reinstalling - not sure what happened there for the audio to be missing. We'll have to keep that in mind in the future though. I think we're going to try updating the build here to the latest Steam version soon, so hopefully that will make things a bit more stable.

Thanks again!