Here is my feedback for your game too as well.

Overall this was a nice short puzzle game. I do wish I had known what influenced the ending I got though while playing the game. Some way to know that, or even a message about it after you get the ending to clue in the player would help a lot. Also I had a hard time seeing the plants in the fog so I lost more health than I should have.

As for suggestions: I kinda found myself wishing for a way to heal HP occasionally. Could make it rare as you do have the multiple lives too. Could even hide it in a secret. Or...did you and I just never found it? 

Overall though it was nice and short and a pretty enjoyable game, just needed some small improvements here and there. Good job on getting to the finals too in the IGMC!

I was one of the official judges this year, and now that the results have been made public, and I'm free to do so, here is my score and thoughts on this title:

Overall score: 8.5

Cute puzzle game about a cat. I feel that some of the jumping puzzles could have had the speed reduced a bit, or have it where you hit interact on the jump spot again and you can re-try a jump without having to move off it and then redo a bunch of jumps you maybe didn't want to do. The stealth section was nice, but I felt it could have been a little longer. The whole part where you're going through the doors and rooms was confusing as I couldn't tell where to go and was basically guessing the whole time, and taking damage based on bad choice/luck. All in all, a cute little game, however.

Hey there slimmmeiske2, I got your game for judging so here are some of my thoughts. I was in love with the artstyle you chose from the first moment, and getting to play as a cat was fun! Not knowing exactly what the kids were saying made sense since I was a cat, but I know kid reactions well enough to be able to guess what the girl said when she saw the cat. Finding the balls of yarn rewarded my exploration, and actually pushed me to do more QTEs (and fail once they got too fast) which was a clever move of your part.

I do wish the QTEs were a bit more varied though. Even if you stuck with the bar QTE, having the start point be different could have made things more interesting. Like when jumping up a cliff the pointer would start at the bottom instead of always at the top. I ended up abusing the night vision to get through the fog mazes since I was running out of time, but I did like that they could be solved with just time and exploration. 

Varying the QTE speed a bit more could also be a neat idea. After a few successful QTEs I would fail on purpose just to slow it down again, but if it the speed was a bit more random I may have tried harder to succeed since there would be a chance that the QTE still felt doable. That would have taken some time to get working right though, and with the contest deadline I totally understand why something like that wouldn't be possible.

Overall, great job! If you had more time I'm sure you could fixed up some of the minor issues, but they didn't distract too much from how enjoyable this game was.

Stray Kitten and the Magical Lantern

by slimmeiske2

Hey there slimmeiske, thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC. I was asked to judge your game in round two of the IGMC 2022 game jam. Here's some feedback about your project.

The idea of playing as a cat reminds me of that game Stray.

I like the opening music.

The tilesets and sprites used for this game are absolutely adorable and I love them.

The humans talking in windings is a nice touch. I'm assuming that you actually wrote dialog for this but put it in wingdings. I've seen enough wingdings to recognize words.

I'm happy that you've decided to include a lighting engine. It really makes games ten times more immersive.

There is nothing wrong with the resolution of the game, but have you considered making a game in a 16:9 resolution? It might add a bit more depth seeing as most people have 'widescreen' monitors with a 16:9 resolution.

I thought it was funny that if you pick the default name of "Stray" for the main character the 'no spoilers' says "Hmn, not very creative are you?" :sjoy:

Thank you for giving the cat multiple lives, I am bad at QTE and puzzle games.

I like the HUD, it doesn't take up too much space, but I do feel like it can still be improved. I don't think it needs a border and you can space things to the corners more. Also maybe the Stray icon doesn't need to be there.

It's not immediately clear which QTEs will damage you and which won't. Maybe I'm missing something.

I'm not sure if it's just random or if you are slowing down the QTEs when they're failed. If you are purposefully making that happen, then keep doing that. I think it's probably just going to improve the experience for your players.

Customizing the sound effects and adding some new ones in different events might make it feel more fun, depending on the ones you pick of course.

The Hansel and Gretal thing was cute.

The items that you pick up are missing descriptions. 

I like the paintings and effort that went into the artwork.

It doesn't quite make sense how the cat can jump through the bookcase and then it just disappears.

The game isn't clear on what will damage you but I guess since you give multiple lives that's okay. It just makes it a trial and error type of play style.

Good luck getting through the fog if you didn't get all the orbs and learn Nightvision. You might want to give the player Nightvision no matter what.

I find that the music selection for this game was really good, but the sound design could still be improved quite a bit.

I didn't really notice any bugs, just some design things that could be improved. I think you did a fantastic job.

What a cute little game you made, I liked it! The ending was a little subtle and unexpected, but it's a game jam game and it's okay if the game is really short.

Thanks for submitting a project to the 2022 IGMC, I look forward to your next project! :)

-Drifty 

I got to play as a cat, and it's a nice twist on a fairy tale! What's not to like?

Very lovely  atmosphere. It's great for a rainy day play to unwind. At first I was thinking: is this a horror game? Then it got too cute for that. :p It's hard to get scared when you are a cat. The sparkly trails are a nice touch.

I don't think I got the best ending. I think I'll give it another go later. :)

Absolutely lovely game! I love the mapping and the music choices that were made and I like that the jump mechanic isn't static -- but gets faster with each jump! There is a lot of attention to detail here that really brings this world to life! I also love that the cat is looking for balls of yarn. :)

Thanks for submitting this so we can play it and good luck with IGMC! (I also got the familiars ending.)

"Stray Kitten and the Magical Lantern" is a really nice vibe. Very nice music. I liked it a lot. Dare say, I might have enjoyed it even more than your last year's entry. I liked that the gameplay was interspersed with the story. This had a really nice balance of doing something, and having a reward of the relationship between the lantern and the cat improving. This idea of a magical lantern with wings and a stray kitten having this unlikely friendship and forming this bond is a pretty interesting idea, and this concept felt like it was able to hold it all together.

It was interesting to have a lot of people speak Wingdings. I may have not been paying attention, but perhaps that represented how cats can't speak English - not sure. There were some antagonistic forces towards the end which were quite forgiving, but the whole game in general is quite forgiving, and that lends to its comfortable vibe. I enjoyed this, it was pleasing. There was nothing really too frustrating about it. I think it was a perfectly nice little story.

There was a really lovely storybook vibe that made everything feel well-paced. I feel as if the puzzles and dodging sneaking minigames were quite simplistic, but they served okay for what the game was.

The window boxes were really well polished. Sometimes it was difficult to understand the levels, and the jumping mechanic was a minigame that was nice for this small adventure but I think wouldn't be able to last for a longer game.

The music was soothing and set a vibe. The puzzle with all the jumps was a little bit chaotic, and I wasn't able to discern a strategy that would decide between a win and a loss, and because you had 9 lives, I wasn't sure what would happen if they all went away, but I didn't have to experience that anyway, because I didn't lose enough to die 9 times.

All in all, the game was a cute and comfortable vibe, and I had an overall pleasant experience.

Thank you, slim, for letting us play your game, and for making it for us. It's a real treasure.

I thought this was very cute! I liked it! I screwed up the QTE a lot because I click a lot and it would pop up and I'd be like OH NO and splat my cat got hurt ;_;. I learned quick! Stop clicking the button! I enjoyed the windings when the cat couldn't understand human speech or the sign. I thought that was well done!

I read a few comments down and I think the nightvision skill while works in the fog, it's still incredibly hard to see since everything is foggy and the nightvision indicator is white, haha. I managed! But might help to see if there's a way to make the path way more clear since I could still barely see stuff on the path (is there a way to make a cut out in the fog over the path? That'd be an interesting idea but I have no idea if that's feasible!)

Very charming and such a short play time! I am also curious how to get the other endings as well.

Loved the mysterious story and playing as a cat! Also appreciated the fact that you have nine lives (I know, it's a minor thing but I wanted to point it out). The only part I found a bit more cryptic was the fog maze but I managed to get through it. Curious to know how to get the other endings! :D Good job!

Nice variety of gameplay, and decent length. Loved the brief little story. (I took a peak at your wingdings dialog and now it makes even more sense). It did take me a bit to understand how the QTEs worked. I thought I had to get the bar first pass, which made the fast ones impossible. Luckily the game was forgiving enough with lives that it worked. It seems like you were aiming for players to be able to figure things out on their own, but I could see little things like that making players a little frustrated, even if they didn't die. The damage from the secret doors felt a little unfair too.

Maps were nice looking, sound was appropriate, and a really nice HUD helped your game stand out. Cool submission!

My thoughts while playing the game.

+ = I liked it

- = I didn't like it

* = Neutral/suggestion

---

+ Lovely title screen, dramatic music

+ Cute intro, I love the sprite work

* Symbol text. Is that deliberate?
 + If it is deliberate, it makes sense - why would a cat understand human language?
 * Animals talk to each other without issue, so I guess it is deliberate?
 * I've gotten further into the game and I'm pretty sure it's deliberate

- I'm not sure how much control you have over this, but the lighting is flickering a bit on my screen and it's a little annoying.

+ Beautiful HUD art

- Hey, I can get hit by the cactus just by walking next to it? That doesn't seem fair.

- I have no idea what to do now. I see these "SP" charges but I haven't been told how to use them.

 - So I have to go under the cactus where my character is obscured by the trees to progress? That's kinda mean.

- I'm suddenly presented with a QTE bar with no instruction on how it works. I intuited how to use it, but consider telling the player what to expect just in case they don't.

- I stepped on some red flowers and died from that? Is it the red flowers and not the yellow-flowered cacti that do damage?

* There's an area that has 4 jump spots right next to each other. The rightmost side has nothing in it.
 - First off, it's pretty annoying to have to wait for one QTE bar to progress, jump, then have to do another QTE immediately after in order to progress. What's the point of that?
 - Furthermore, why an empty space? I just wasted (a tiny bit of) my time!

* Some QTEs are slow, others are fast. Interesting that the variety is there, but it would have been cooler if there was some tie-in to skill or difficulty of the task.
 * Upon further experience, it seems the QTEs slow down if you miss one. I guess that's good.

+ I have choices for progressing over the water. Cool.
 - Oooooor maybe not! I hate false choices!

* Oh, now that I can see more clearly, it is indeed the red flowers that do damage, and the SP icons are lives.

+ The choice of tiles for the forest are beautiful
 - I just wish they didn't obscure my vision so much

- Menu heath display doesn't align with the on-map health display. Makes it hard to judge whether or not to use purr.
 - Now that I think about it, isn't purr just basically committing suicide? You lose a life to fully restore health - basically the same effect as dying.

+ I do appreciate that the cat emits a soft glow so you can kinda tell where you are even when obscured by the trees.

- Did I just get hurt by a flame that I couldn't see coming?

+ Interesting house. Seems going in one way can end up looping back into the same room.

- I seem to be stuck in a repeating room with no clues as to how to get out.
 * I managed to get out of it

- I'm not really liking this repeating room thing. It seems like the only way to get through it is to check every interactable object in the room, take damage from something, then press a button (or unpress it) and proceed.

 - What do these buttons even do? I guess I need to press them to proceed but then I open a door and get hurt!

- The first witch avoiding part seems to suffer from "read the dev's mind" syndrome too. I'm first presented with a left or right directional choice, but don't know why I should press one or the other. I can't even tell if I chose the right direction, but I was able to proceed to the next room...
 + Which I found to make more sense. I avoided the witch and was able to proceed.

- Tile passability errors exist in the capture room. I can walk on shelves (not that it is exactly unrealistic for a cat).

- The fog maze doesn't seem to do a good job of indicating where I can and cannot move, so I just randomly move until I find my way out.

+ I'm glad you have the lantern confirm that I am making progress. I'm a little leery after the crazy room puzzles.

* I guess I get an ending based on how I did in the game, but it's not clear what the criteria are.

---

Summary

I'm glad to see you branch out from your household chores-styled game for a different game type, but there are a number of things here that make the experience confusing and frustrating. Most of it comes down to not telling the player ahead of time how the game works and what to expect.

It is nice to see a game that isn't a turn-based JRPG, so I hope you keep taking risks and learn how to further refine your skills and expand your game making repertoire!

I liked the game especially after playing another game with a stray cat before. But for me the constant jump contest turned out to be a too big annoyance. All I did after the 2nd map was constantly saving after every successful jump and then try and reload several times before I succeeded on the next jump. I really would have liked to see the witch but I gave up on the 4th map when I noticed how large it was and how many more jumps even faster and with an even smaller fields to hit would come.

Hi, Hi.

I loved the idea of your game.

I found some passabilities problems and I believe a font problem, because the dialogues of the children and some of the witch do not appear as words, but symbols.

Anyway, Dovinhah was a good cat afterall!

ok so far i ran into a few issues while playing the game where i got stuck and i could not move at all because the game froze and i just had to completely restart the game.

OMG!!! I love this! It was absolutely the cutest!! This was so fun and challenging! =^.^= I named mine Luna lol, The music was nice and the mapping well thought out it looks. The fact I got to play as a kitty.... EVEN better.

I like cats 6/5