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A jam submission

Russel and BirchView game page

Take a cozy Autumn hike and clear you're head
Submitted by domtom9dev (@domtom9dev) — 4 hours, 21 minutes before the deadline
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Russel and Birch's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Cozy: Does the game you feel cozy?#34.4624.462
Aesthetics: Does this game have aesthetically pleasing artwork or polish?#74.4624.462
Theme: Does this game represent the theme well?#94.3464.346
Overall: Is the game objectively good?#154.0004.000
Creativity: Does the game include something unexpected or interesting?#323.7313.731
Fun: Is the game enjoyable or satisfying to play?#433.6543.654

Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 22 · Previous page · First page
Submitted(+1)

This is amazing!!  Love the graphics and the atmosphere -really peaceful and polished experience -fantastic work!! :D

Developer(+1)

thanks so much for the kind words :)

Submitted(+1)

OMG I love it! 🥺I refused to run the entire time! I slowly explored and didn't eat any of the treats. This is a magnificent entry! 

Developer

haha that's great, I was trying to encourage that so its interesting to see that take on it,

I'm happy you had a good experience

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This is simply lovely. The story is minimal yet touching and the beautiful visuals and audio support that. Also the obstruction/visibility shader is really cool.

I didn't really get the whole stamina system though - was it supposed to be used for smt. that got scrapped? I didn't feel like running much anyway as the walking felt very peaceful. 

Developer

thanks for the feedback,

I wanted it to feel like this was an exhausted guy who hadn't been hiking for a long time, quite out of shape, but without explicitly saying that. The option of running gives the player the choice, and by making a choice to walk you're actively invested in taking your time mindfully, rather than being forced. Hopefully enhancing a sense of wellbeing and calm.

The original idea was that talking to people, interacting with other characters and completing side quests would increase stamina but as the theme was developed and time drew short I kept it as it was.

Submitted(+1)

Nice low poly graphics! The way you made light & shadows really adds to the atmosphere. And I love how footsteps make a great addition to music and it gets even more relaxing. I didn't even want to run sometimes,  just calmly walk around and enjoy the moment. 

I also agree with Bcraft, would be great to see some simple interactions with surrounding to make it even more lively.

Developer(+1)

thanks so much, for the feedback,

I'm taking notes for updates/changes on what I can make once the Jam is done, what to keep for future projects

Submitted(+1)

Good hike among the nature ! I really loved the littles sceneries along the path, and the feedback on where the hiker is and the snacks. Sad that there wasn't more interaction with the environment, but for a jam, it's completely enough ! GG !

Developer(+1)

thanks for the feedback, a lot of it was built with the idea of developing it further. So hopefully I'll scratch that itch in future updates/projects

Submitted(+1)

What a lovely experience, this is among my favourite games from this jam. Great job! I only have two minor complaints, and that is that sometimes the character gets stuck, and the auto-walk doesn't work diagonally.

Developer(+1)

thanks for playing and the feedback,

I made efforts to avoid the player getting stuck and tested as much as a I could so apologies that happened,

it doesn't work diagonally with keyboard which is annoying, still getting used to the new unity input system so didn't get to implement a fix, but good to know its something I need to fix once I get my head around it

Submitted(+1)

The new input system is the bane of my life, so I feel you. The input worked perfectly on my computer for my game, but not on some others, or in the browser build. After spending hours trying to find a fix, I switched back to the old input system.

Developer(+1)

yup. This project was the first time I've booted up unity in quite a few months, I tried to learn the new system so this is game has a bit of a mash up. I see the benifit of the new system especially across multiple platforms, but there's so many massive features unity drops and changes and updates on a regular basis it just gets tiring 

Submitted(+1)

Really adored this. The story around it is really sweet, but I'm really struck by the polish around the design of the game; so much of it is subtle, but everything, from the terrain design to the characters, feels extremely cohesive. I was surprised to have a little bit of a bittersweet thing going on at the ending, but I honestly loved... kind of all of this. Thank you for making this!

Developer(+1)

thanks so much

I was a fan of yours as well

Submitted(+1)

Very lovely story to it. Thank you, I had a very nice time. Very fitting for the cozy feel, great job! - Mato

Developer(+1)

thanks for playing

Submitted(+1)

Very  polished submission!  Initially the game had 'A Short Hike' vibes but also reminded me of ':THE LONGING:' the longer I played.  The obstacle camera was very neat though maybe a little sensitive because this camera was triggered with just the hand rails while walking across the bridge (for example).  

 Art style, audio assets, and story observations/text set the right atmosphere for a reflective journey.  Implementation was just great.

Developer

I've not actually played the longing but I'll check it out

thanks for the feedback, I would agree, my intension was to set up more of an array of raycasts to trigger that only if all were covered but I ran out of time 

Im glad you enjoyed it

Submitted(+1)

Cute story with great visuals and art style. Impressive quality! I enjoyed the concept as well, hiking through points in his life / memories. Maybe one improvement could be to have a mini map or a map in the pause menu. I think it could be ez to get lost. Overall though, Great job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback, yeah I could see how that could happen, mini map was on the to do list but I decided to polish what I had. I tried to use the level design to keep players on the right track, where did you get lost out of interest?

here's the full map

Submitted(+1)

I think when I was doing the extra exploring hah

Submitted(+2)

Stunning graphics and peaceful gameplay! But sadly my old laptop couldn't handle these beautiful graphics, it was laggy (20 to 30 FPS).

Developer(+1)

that sucks, apologies I ran out of time to create a less graphic intense setting

Thanks for the kind words though

Submitted(+1)

Really liked your game, great eviroment. It respects the topic very well and gets the satisfying touch.

Developer

thanks for playing

Yours was really fun as well 

Submitted(+1)

Heartwarming game! The visuals, with all the colorful, swaying foliage, were a treat, as was the understated but effective storytelling method. Very nice work. (I was going to be very sad if Birch died. Like devastated.)

Developer(+2)

thanks so much

Yeah I wasn't going to go there, that would have felt pretty cheap. But I'm pleased you were able to Foster an emotional connection

Submitted(+1)

Very calm game, like the aesthetics. I think the shadows on the terrain were a bit harsh especially in contrast with the character. A good solution for showing character beyond the obstacles, did you use render feature that changed shader of objects?

Developer(+1)

thanks for the feedback, i liked the harsh shadows but could have probably been a bit more balanced. 

For the obstacle camera I projected another camera on to a circle gameobject in front of the main camera that did not render a specific layer where I put all the objects into that could obscure the player. Then I shot some raycasts out of the camera to trigger the circle game object (with a bit of pop) whenever you ran behind something.

It's something I've used before for corner maps and radars so I thought it might work for this so I'm happy someone noticed 

Submitted(+1)

I loved it

Developer

thanks for playing

Submitted(+1)

I loved this game. It was so calm and relaxing, with a simple yet touching story. The stamina mechanics were perfect. Just enough consequences to prevent me from sprinting the whole time. Yet enough restores to feel comfortable using as much stamina as i want.

Normally i try and suggest something that could be done better, but i got nothing this time.

I give it a 5/5

Developer

thanks for playing and the kind words :)

yeah a bit of work went into balancing that with the level design and pacing so I'm happy you picked up on it

your game was one of the best I've played so far so best of luck with the voting

Submitted(+1)

Thanks! You too!

Submitted(+1)

Unbelievable. Concept 10/10, sound 10/10, atmosphere 10/10.

Developer

thanks so much for the kind words, you're game was really awesome as well

(+1)

I really liked this game, its concept and its art very much. Well Done!

Developer(+1)

thanks, yours was fun as well

good luck with the voting

Submitted(+1)

Hey, that was amazing. I loved everything, i've pretty much nothing to say, this is just a great game !

Developer(+1)

thanks so much for the kind words, really enjoyed yours too

good luck

Submitted(+1)

Wow.  Absolutely loved this.  Needless to say, I chose the path to explore more.  Are there any good tutorials out there on how to create terrain like you have in this game?

Developer

thanks for the kind words, and for wanting to explore more 😀  https://youtu.be/MWQv2Bagwgk brackets has you covered for terrain tutorials.  That and a fair bit of trial and error

Viewing comments 20 to 1 of 22 · Previous page · First page