what a delightfully detailed and cozy game :) I got a bit stuck in the library (knit happens, right? xD), but I will be coming back to try again at a reasonable hour in my timezone!
so far, I absolutely adore the art, and the combination of these visuals and the music is so calming <3 as an impostor syndrome experiencer and someone who keeps moving away to new places, the themes are definitely speaking to me as well -- I look forward to seeing how Fern's relationships with the other characters and their perspective on the city might shift as they work to alleviate their impostor syndrome :D
yoo, thanks for playing!! we're really glad you enjoy and relate to the story. i hope you enjoy the rest of your playthrough, we appreciate you taking the time to play our little game! <3
I have a soft spot for pastel colours and the hand-drawn look, super cozy! I really enjoyed the story and dialogue, they’re what really pulled me through the game. I like how rude some of the characters start out and then proceed to become nicer lol.
The platforming puzzles were fun too, really liked the level design, just the right amount of challenge for me, though I think some sections could give us a larger margin of error (like large jumps where you barely make it or timed buttons which give us a very narrow window). The mechanic with the needle is good, but I wish there was an explanation for how it can press buttons on the way back, whether in a dialogue box or through level design. The needle double jump was a fun mechanic, I wish there was more of it.
The open design of the town was cool, I had to read actual signs to get through it and that’s immersive. I noticed the sewers are always accessible though, and if someone got in there before going to the library it would be unintentionally challenging.
Some things I would’ve liked to see were more audiovisual feedback when the needle impacts something or when we hit a button to recall it. I think I would’ve liked more sfx in general, maybe some ambiences to support the wonderful background art.
I’m not really sold on some aspects of the sewer section – like the biohazard/radioactive barrels being oddly dangerous items underneath a peaceful town. The music gets darker too which I found to be at odds with the rest of the soundtrack. I see that library music was used alongside original music, I think the selection was really good overall since most of them fit well.
Also the character art is cute, love that Fern’s eyes close when they jump haha.
Thank you for your comment! We really appreciate you taking the time to leave such detailed feedback :D
I'm so glad you enjoyed the puzzles and platforming challenges! We will definitely take into account the feedback on margin of error. With more time, we'd love to make this a longer game where the difficulty of the platforming puzzles is better paced and gives players more time to practice new mechanics. The library room with the high bookshelf was meant to be a soft tutorial through level design, but based on your feedback and others', it seems like it didn't come across well! We'll definitely be revising that room to make it much clearer what the intended solution is -- or maybe adding additional rooms where the player sees the needle press a button on recall while trying to do some other task.
Thank you for the feedback on the SFX and music as well! We definitely want to take more time to polish up the sound design of the game, so that feedback is super valuable. Thank you!! :D
(only if you get around to it, I see the team collaborates frequently so I expect there will be more cool stuff in the future)
SFX and music do kind of get left for the end because there’s just soo much stuff to do. Even in our team – where my only responsibility was audio/music – I decided to wait until all the systems were in before making any final products. I ended up writing all the music in the last month and due to some unforeseen irl issues I ended up cutting it much closer than expected. I finished the main menu music just 6 hours before the deadline T_T
Thank you!! We should hopefully have some updates out once the jam judging period is over :,) and maybe some future jam games too!
Re: music, I definitely feel you on that! I originally planned to only use original music in the game, but completely ran out of time D: I think it's really impressive that you did all the music for your game in the last month though -- I can't wait to check it out once things get less hectic irl :D
I'm terrible with platformers so I got stuck pretty early on (in the library), but I loved the beginning of the story, the art, and the way you designed the levels! The knitting magic idea is very cool too <3 I wish I was able to progress a bit more in the game, if you are going to keep working on it maybe you could consider some accessibility options? For a platformer example, Celeste does an awesome job regarding those!
Thank you so much!! We'll definitely take your suggestion about accessibility into account -- we want all players to be able to experience our game and its story! There are so many features that we wanted to implement that we ran out of time for during the jam, so we'll definitely work on that in the future.
damn, I beat the game but no i really wonder what is in the room beneath the shrine. didnt go down there since it looked like you couldnt get back up :-/
yooooo nice work!!! that room is just a cave with a tram station (in the ending dialogue the other characters reference coming up by tram, that's where the station is). unfortunately there's nothing interesting there in this build except the background art, but we were hoping to use it in a deeper capacity originally! here's a screenshot so you don't get fomo haha. thanks again for playing!
Incredible work on this game! The artwork is beautiful and I'm amazed at the attention to detail in each scene -- I can tell that a lot of time and dedicated work went into making this. The indoor and outdoor spaces are very complete and the village feel, interiors, and music definitely achieve the cozy vibes. I really like the animations as well (ceiling fans, the steam, the jump, etc.) and npc character designs/animations. It's really nice to see a game of such high quality.
I played the game several times and unfortunately had some softlock issues, and I'm hoping it's helpful for me to note them here. The first two are shown in the images below:
In both cases I was stuck and between colliders and couldn't move. In a third instance, I was in Ginger's cafe and walked to the right, thinking there might be more to the cafe, and I walked off the screen and couldn't walk back, so I had to restart. An "R" button that restarts the current scene might be helpful in case these or similar issues pop up?
I kept at it because this game is so well done, but on my final play, I was in the library room to the right of the first image shown above, and just couldn't figure out how to access the button on top of the high bookshelf, and the toggle-barriers prevented me from e.g. going back to Grandma or another scene. I felt like I was missing some ability (a double-jump, an ability to stand on the needle, or similar), but perhaps I just haven't figured out the puzzle yet.
Sorry for writing a book, but this game was so well done that I wanted to provide substantial feedback. Great work!
Thank you so much for your comment! We did spend a lot of time and effort on this game, and are so happy that that was reflected in the final outcome.
Thank you also for pointing out the two softlock locations and the bakery/cafe wall bug. I'm working on patching those, but in line with the game jam's guidelines, we won't be uploading those updates until the judging period is over. For now, I'll leave a note in the description warning future players of the bakery wall bug, and would it be okay if I directed people to your comment so they could watch out for those softlock spots?
For the button on the high bookshelf, that is an intentional puzzle! As a hint, the back of your needle will also hit buttons while it flies back to you :p
Thank you again for your comment - please don't apologize for writing a long comment, it made our day!
I came back and finished it -- great game! The platforming challenges were fun, the mechanisms worked well, and the story arc was nicely completed. (And you are of course welcome to direct people to my comment.)
Yes, we're working on a save system! It is definitely frustrating if you get soft locked or if you want to play in multiple sessions, we agree. And for the dialogues -- if you hold LMB, they'll scroll at least a little faster haha! Thanks for playing <3
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what a delightfully detailed and cozy game :) I got a bit stuck in the library (knit happens, right? xD), but I will be coming back to try again at a reasonable hour in my timezone!
so far, I absolutely adore the art, and the combination of these visuals and the music is so calming <3 as an impostor syndrome experiencer and someone who keeps moving away to new places, the themes are definitely speaking to me as well -- I look forward to seeing how Fern's relationships with the other characters and their perspective on the city might shift as they work to alleviate their impostor syndrome :D
yoo, thanks for playing!! we're really glad you enjoy and relate to the story. i hope you enjoy the rest of your playthrough, we appreciate you taking the time to play our little game! <3
I have a soft spot for pastel colours and the hand-drawn look, super cozy! I really enjoyed the story and dialogue, they’re what really pulled me through the game. I like how rude some of the characters start out and then proceed to become nicer lol.
The platforming puzzles were fun too, really liked the level design, just the right amount of challenge for me, though I think some sections could give us a larger margin of error (like large jumps where you barely make it or timed buttons which give us a very narrow window). The mechanic with the needle is good, but I wish there was an explanation for how it can press buttons on the way back, whether in a dialogue box or through level design. The needle double jump was a fun mechanic, I wish there was more of it.
The open design of the town was cool, I had to read actual signs to get through it and that’s immersive. I noticed the sewers are always accessible though, and if someone got in there before going to the library it would be unintentionally challenging.
Some things I would’ve liked to see were more audiovisual feedback when the needle impacts something or when we hit a button to recall it. I think I would’ve liked more sfx in general, maybe some ambiences to support the wonderful background art.
I’m not really sold on some aspects of the sewer section – like the biohazard/radioactive barrels being oddly dangerous items underneath a peaceful town. The music gets darker too which I found to be at odds with the rest of the soundtrack. I see that library music was used alongside original music, I think the selection was really good overall since most of them fit well.
Also the character art is cute, love that Fern’s eyes close when they jump haha.
Thank you for your comment! We really appreciate you taking the time to leave such detailed feedback :D
I'm so glad you enjoyed the puzzles and platforming challenges! We will definitely take into account the feedback on margin of error. With more time, we'd love to make this a longer game where the difficulty of the platforming puzzles is better paced and gives players more time to practice new mechanics. The library room with the high bookshelf was meant to be a soft tutorial through level design, but based on your feedback and others', it seems like it didn't come across well! We'll definitely be revising that room to make it much clearer what the intended solution is -- or maybe adding additional rooms where the player sees the needle press a button on recall while trying to do some other task.
Thank you for the feedback on the SFX and music as well! We definitely want to take more time to polish up the sound design of the game, so that feedback is super valuable. Thank you!! :D
I’ll look forward to future updates, then :)
(only if you get around to it, I see the team collaborates frequently so I expect there will be more cool stuff in the future)
SFX and music do kind of get left for the end because there’s just soo much stuff to do. Even in our team – where my only responsibility was audio/music – I decided to wait until all the systems were in before making any final products. I ended up writing all the music in the last month and due to some unforeseen irl issues I ended up cutting it much closer than expected. I finished the main menu music just 6 hours before the deadline T_T
Well, it was still fun.
Thank you!! We should hopefully have some updates out once the jam judging period is over :,) and maybe some future jam games too!
Re: music, I definitely feel you on that! I originally planned to only use original music in the game, but completely ran out of time D: I think it's really impressive that you did all the music for your game in the last month though -- I can't wait to check it out once things get less hectic irl :D
I'm terrible with platformers so I got stuck pretty early on (in the library), but I loved the beginning of the story, the art, and the way you designed the levels! The knitting magic idea is very cool too <3
I wish I was able to progress a bit more in the game, if you are going to keep working on it maybe you could consider some accessibility options? For a platformer example, Celeste does an awesome job regarding those!
Thanks for this game :)
Thank you so much!! We'll definitely take your suggestion about accessibility into account -- we want all players to be able to experience our game and its story! There are so many features that we wanted to implement that we ran out of time for during the jam, so we'll definitely work on that in the future.
why is everyone so mean to me
damn, I beat the game but no i really wonder what is in the room beneath the shrine.
didnt go down there since it looked like you couldnt get back up :-/
yooooo nice work!!! that room is just a cave with a tram station (in the ending dialogue the other characters reference coming up by tram, that's where the station is). unfortunately there's nothing interesting there in this build except the background art, but we were hoping to use it in a deeper capacity originally! here's a screenshot so you don't get fomo haha. thanks again for playing!
Incredible work on this game! The artwork is beautiful and I'm amazed at the attention to detail in each scene -- I can tell that a lot of time and dedicated work went into making this. The indoor and outdoor spaces are very complete and the village feel, interiors, and music definitely achieve the cozy vibes. I really like the animations as well (ceiling fans, the steam, the jump, etc.) and npc character designs/animations. It's really nice to see a game of such high quality.
I played the game several times and unfortunately had some softlock issues, and I'm hoping it's helpful for me to note them here. The first two are shown in the images below:In both cases I was stuck and between colliders and couldn't move. In a third instance, I was in Ginger's cafe and walked to the right, thinking there might be more to the cafe, and I walked off the screen and couldn't walk back, so I had to restart. An "R" button that restarts the current scene might be helpful in case these or similar issues pop up?
I kept at it because this game is so well done, but on my final play, I was in the library room to the right of the first image shown above, and just couldn't figure out how to access the button on top of the high bookshelf, and the toggle-barriers prevented me from e.g. going back to Grandma or another scene. I felt like I was missing some ability (a double-jump, an ability to stand on the needle, or similar), but perhaps I just haven't figured out the puzzle yet.
Sorry for writing a book, but this game was so well done that I wanted to provide substantial feedback. Great work!
Thank you so much for your comment! We did spend a lot of time and effort on this game, and are so happy that that was reflected in the final outcome.
Thank you also for pointing out the two softlock locations and the bakery/cafe wall bug. I'm working on patching those, but in line with the game jam's guidelines, we won't be uploading those updates until the judging period is over. For now, I'll leave a note in the description warning future players of the bakery wall bug, and would it be okay if I directed people to your comment so they could watch out for those softlock spots?
For the button on the high bookshelf, that is an intentional puzzle! As a hint, the back of your needle will also hit buttons while it flies back to you :p
Thank you again for your comment - please don't apologize for writing a long comment, it made our day!
I came back and finished it -- great game! The platforming challenges were fun, the mechanisms worked well, and the story arc was nicely completed. (And you are of course welcome to direct people to my comment.)
Good luck with the jam!
I'm so honored you came back and finished the game! Thank you for your kind words and feedback <3
a button to skip dialogues and a way to save the game would be nice too :-)
Yes, we're working on a save system! It is definitely frustrating if you get soft locked or if you want to play in multiple sessions, we agree. And for the dialogues -- if you hold LMB, they'll scroll at least a little faster haha! Thanks for playing <3