I have to admit I didn’t finish the game (if fact I just dropped it at the beginning).

First I looked at the list and found it very long. Then I found out that I should ask Neldor about each child and gather multiple ingredients for each of their gifts. Then I found out that I should ask about each ingredient, then ask for them. Then I found the book in the classroom. When I saw all these chores I had to do, I just wanted to stop, but I told myself that I would at least try to make a gift. But then I hit the inventory limit (that seems to serve no purpose other than bother the player), and at this point I just gave up. (I mean, an inventory limit when you have to pick up so many things in the game?)

And I don’t even mention that you have to memorise the elves’ name and location, and find your way in a sprawling map with similar locations (the corridors).

I think the game would have been better without the inventory limit, with indications in the descriptions saying where the directions lead, and with a smaller font size (there are so many lists, and they never fit on the screen so you have to scroll all the time).

Also, instead of overwhelming the player with so many tasks right at the beginning, maybe the player should just be given only one, that would act as a tutorial: making a single gift to familiarise himself with the different shops and people. After that, he could be given the rest of the objectives.

That’s a shame, because a lot of work seems to have been put into the game, the graphics are nice and you are pushing what Adventuron can do.

Or maybe I just wasn’t the target audience (and being tight on time didn’t help me, of course.)

First of all, I thought the length of the game was perfect, and I really liked the list of tasks and the system of building the presents once I understood what to do.

Most puzzles were a really good level of difficulty - not too easy or too difficult.  There were only two puzzles where I needed hints, and it looks like they were the same ones that everyone else struggled with - finding the light source and reaching the gingerbread.  The first was easy once I checked the in-game hints, but the second had me utterly flummoxed.  I was going around all over the place trying in vain to move chairs and tables and ladders to find something to stand on.  I had already built the toy you're supposed to use and had put it on the sleigh, and it would never have occurred to me that I would need to use it again (and temporarily minus my points for taking it off the sleigh!).  Because of the nature of the list, I assumed it was 'job done' once presents were on the sleigh.

(I was even trying to build non-requested items from the book in the vain hope that they would help me reach the gingerbread - the stern message about not wasting time was pretty frustrating there!)

Because the items you can interact with are quite fluid (some conspicuous, some not) I found a lot of instances where you can't interact in some ways with inconspicuous items (e.g. if you try to 'get on' the counter in Fabric Supplies, the game says 'you can't see a counter' or similar).

The only serious error I noticed was that if you try to examine the toys in Toy Storage, it says 'you can't see a dump here!'

Overall, I thought the toy-building mechanic was a real strength and was really fun.

I know it's probably nit-picky, but the references to Covid19 will probably date the game, and moreover, take the player outside of the fantasy of the game's setting.

Your graphics were wonderfully balanced, with just enough detail to really encourage suspension of disbelief. It's easy to focus too much on the main subject of an image, and leave backgrounds too vague and empty, but you avoided that trap very well.

I also liked that most of the right materials for each toy could be collected from the various storerooms. But there's a fine line between a low-level puzzle that draws the player in, and annoying busywork that pushes them away, and it's a line that moves depending on the player. For me, having to ask Neldor about each child individually was a step too far, while looking up the requirements for each toy didn't feel as tedious since I could focus on one or two toys at a time. It may be that the magic list backfired a bit there, since it really highlights the repetitive nature of asking about each child.

Other than that niggle, the puzzles were well thought-out, and I mostly found the solutions without too much hair-pulling. The game was very enjoyable overall, and absorbed me quite thoroughly while I was playing it.

Damn dude, those graphics and font choice are awesome, Loving the colours and details.

This jolly, festive task-based game is providing a good excuse to escape from the kitchen for a couple of hours on Christmas afternoon. With the usual Francis polish and somewhat didactic style (I now feel better educated about the origins of Reindeer names), it is a characteristically smooth and pleasant playing experience. It's interesting that this was originally written in Inform 6 and then ported to Adventuron - perhaps it was an unfinished project from some time before or perhaps done de novo for this Jam with the porting between languages done purely as an exercise (in programming and, no doubt, in frustration). Whatever the case, there are some recognisably Inform-y bits in it (for instance the GIVE '(to [subject])' response, and the build information at the beginning), that give it an interesting flavour for those familiar with Inform games.

The writing is effectively straightforward and I'm glad that you've managed to reference current events in your premise while managing to keep it light hearted, when it would have been easier to ignore them altogether. The cute cartoonish characters are endearing, and the graphics (which I know you say aren't your forte) are, as usual, very good and entirely fitting, with the eye-popping wallpaper colour combination in the upstairs hallway  worthy of a special mention (it wouldn't look out of place in my own house, in fact). The structure of separate tasks (each a little fetch quest with a final assembly step) along with the scoring, make progress feel very satisfying (although I haven't finished them all - see hint request below). Being a pretty competent handy-man in real life, I was at first expecting to have to carry out each individual construction step once the components were gathered together and was anticipating some verb-wrestling to plane the wooden block into a gun stock, etc. The simple 'make' command is much easier and there is something magical about the assembly occurring and the item appearing before your very eyes. If only woodwork was as easy in real life.

Difficulty-wise, the puzzles are quite merciful although, inevitably (being only a third-class sort of puzzle-solver) I am stuck (at 70/100) and there are no hints available (HINT produces 'TBD',  so I guess you were intending to add them but ran out of time). So here is where I ask for hints:

- where do I find a light source to get into the coal mine?

- I'm guessing that I need to deflate the balloon to make a skin for a drum, but how? DEFLATE doesn't work, neither does BURST, POP, or PRICK (with needle)? Or am I on the wrong track?

- How do I reach / look at / access the top shelf in the panty to get the gingerbread? Nothing I've tried seems to work, including an attempt to CLIMB SHELVES.

Any help here would be appreciated as I would like to finish the game.

There are a few bugs I spotted. Below is the usual report:

Unimplemented GET response for items mentioned in description in workshop (nails, screws, screwdriver etc) = 'You look around but you can't see any [X] anywhere', same for mail / letters in the mailroom;

In dining room: ‘on the dining tables is a wine bottle’ (table should be singular, unless it is straddling more than one table);

Mrs Claus asks you if you'll get the gingerbread for her, but she doesn't respond if you immediately ‘say yes’  ;

GIVE [object] to someone who doesn't want it == ‘nobody wants it'. Could that be specific to the character, eg 'Mrs Claus doesn't want it'?;

Bathroom: I can use the toilet but I can’t wash my hands…;

Puppet description = “you can put your hand in the sock…” but PUT HAND IN SOCK produces “you look around but you can’t see any hand anywhere”;

You can read the book even if you’re not carrying it (switch ‘is_present’ to 'is_carried');

DIG in inside location (when you are holding the shovel)  = “you would need a shovel”;

GIVE (unknown or not carried) to a character = no response;

FILL BOTTLE = you can endlessly repeat the action;

And some other comments:

It would be better if the created object message (eg 'you can see a piggybank') appeared after rather than before the description of its creation;

I'm amused imagining what some of my colleagues would say to only the female elves helping out in the kitchen...

There are some locations with conspicuously brief descriptions (the fabric supplies, the metalwork supplies) and some with no graphic - I expect that is just a result of running out of time;

There are a few locations depicted with doors  - but you can't open or close them (doesn't bother me but we've had some debate about implicitly / explicitly opening doors in the past);

…and that is all.

Overall, this is  a thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing game that I'm certainly looking forward to completing. Another strong jam entry from yourself!