Play game
Doggone Good Park Keeper's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art/Graphics | #2 | 4.516 | 4.516 |
| Overall | #12 | 3.621 | 3.621 |
| Audio/Music | #13 | 3.484 | 3.484 |
| Fun/Engagement | #27 | 3.097 | 3.097 |
| Theme | #34 | 3.387 | 3.387 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Really well done game. Awesome art, super cute style and vibes. Those conversation were great. The gameplay was simple, but nice. It dragged a bit for long imo, it got repetitive at some point, but those conversation were a cool change of pace. Excellent entry !
Did you work alone, or as part of a group? (If in a group, list their names)
alone
Disclose if you used any public domain assets or not.
Music by Eric Matyas (soundimage.org), Sound effects from Zapsplat.com
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Amazed at the amount of care and attention that went into creating this game. Great Work!
This game is amazing: It's adorable, calm, and cute(Do adorable and cute count as the same thing).
I also loved the ending it's adorable, I love it.
By the way you got 5 stars for each rating.(From me)
I'm happy to hear such high praise from a fellow bean! Personally, I use adorable to mean extra cute which was my goal with this. It's good to hear you say that about the ending especially
Ridiculously polished, amazing art, and very satisfying feedback on all the gameplay elements with the satisfying pops and sparkles. I know you wanted it to be mellow but it is a bit too mellow, something like increased speed after each star would be nice to up the stakes and maintain player engagement.
Great entry!
Thanks for the compliments and feedback! Increasing the speed after each star could be a nice feature
As usual, I'm going to start with my complaints, then move on to the good:
1) The gameplay didn't really feel like a game. There wasn't really any progression, after the little tutorial, there were no more mechanics introduced. Maybe instead of starting with everything you could've introduced a new mechanic at every star? Also I think the items should've come on screen faster at least.
2) Just selecting an item and clicking wasn't enough for me. There could've been maybe a short minigame thing for some items or something like that to spice it up a bit. One great example of this is Dredge (if you haven't played it I'd recommend), where every time you catch a fish, a little minigame pops up. Now, Dredge is a full project, and this isn't, but still, I think a similar concept could've (and should've) been applied here.
3) You had this really nice relaxing aesthetic (although I thought it was a little bit childish), and great sound design, but for me, it all seemed like a coverup for the lackluster gameplay. Now, keep in mind that this is coming from someone who really prioritizes gameplay over anything else (take one look at my game's art and you'll see lol), so it is definitely subjective, but I just thought that behind all the visual polish, there wasn't a whole lot in terms of the actual game.
Now, even though I've complained a lot about the gameplay, everything else was honestly fantastic. The art, although a little childish for me personally, was undeniably well done, and the sound design has gone really underappreciated and it really sold the vibe you were going for. Overall, I thought too much attention was put into the art (and that weird romance thing that didn't really hit for me) and polish and not enough in the gameplay. I'd rather play a really interesting game with some minor bugs and extremely simple art than a point and click thing like this with amazing art, but that's just me. Still, I can't deny that this was a great submission.
Idk why I felt the need to write all this but your welcome... I think?
(Also if you could play, rate, and give some feedback for my game as well that'd be appreciated, especially after I wrote all this lol)
Thanks for the extensive critique! You're right about the gameplay being lackluster. I designed it to just be a little distraction while the player watched Hadley flirt with cute visuals. The art and characters were my focus as you surmised. But even that isn't as developed as I originally planned. If I wasn't lazy I would've had more build-up to the ending and explored their relationship more.
You have good suggestions concerning the gameplay. If I was to flesh out the actual game of the game I especially like the idea of introducing more mechanics with each star. As of now objects and birds just spawn a little more frequently and it's not that noticeable.
NGL I would've enjoyed working as a janitor a lot more if I was being flirted with by a cute dog who barked at rude customers the entire time. Ridiculously polished, clear sense that it achieved all of its design goals. The gameplay ramps up just a bit slower than I would've liked but the slow burn just increases the Sapphic tension 10/10 the love story ever told
Thank you for the detailed feedback and praise! I spent a lot of time balancing the gameplay. At first, it was fast-paced but then I slowed it to put the emphasis on that sapphic tension like you mentioned. I'm glad you liked it
Great work on the art, looks really nice. The music is good too. Fun game!!
Wow... such level of polish! This is professional-looking. Definitely one of my favorites. It's super cute, a bit repetitive after a while but to me the guide chatting helps breaking the monotony. Nice little story, too! I was able to relax and enjoy that little walk with some pleasant chatter.
Thank you! That's exactly what I was going for
nicely planned out and executed. The speech bubbles got in the way sometimes. Got a bit boring after the first star. well done.
Thanks! I agree the gameplay can be boring. My focus was to make a chill game that's more about the characters whose speech bubbles do indeed get in the way at times. They're supposed to be transparent when objects pass them but the engine I used is finicky and I couldn't make it happen 100% of the time
The art is beautiful and the mechanics are entertaining. I like it a lot
Loved the art and the characters ! Lovely game :)
Beautifully crafted! A nice tutorial and a chill vibe and story to it! Good job!
Thank you! Making a good tutorial was a priority for me since in previous jams they've been lacking so I'm glad you like it.
Simple and quite entertaining game. It's pretty true to the theme of the JAM. The art looks fantastic. Very good work!
Thanks! Keeping it simple and polished was one of my main goals
Great looking art! Neat story and simple gameplay, well executed!
Thanks
This is ADORABLE. I enjoyed the narration part a lot. My favorite part was the animation of yelling at the birds. Great job! 🐕
Thanks! Writing the narration was my favorite part of making this