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A jam submission

On the WindView game page

drift away on the wind
Submitted by nomes (@gardennaom) — 48 minutes, 22 seconds before the deadline
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On the Wind's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#134.2174.217
Overall#234.2394.239
Visuals#444.2614.261
Authenticity (use of resolution restriction)#474.6964.696
Gameplay#603.7833.783

Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you work in a team?
Just me :) and it was fun

Was the resolution a challenge?
A little bit--lowrez stuff is my jam (pun intended), but it was a struggle to make a readable dialogue system with so few pixels.

What did you learn?
I spent a lot of time on performance optimizations--this game relies pretty heavily on simplex noise, which is expensive on PICO-8--and learned a lot about caching and bit manipulation, and created some clever approaches to world generation via chunks, imo.

It's also the second game I've made with any writing--and I'm still a little self-conscious about my writing--but I really tried to work on editing it down to as little text as possible that still told the story I wanted to tell.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Very cool! Its quite calming and controls really great. 

Submitted(+1)

This game was my favorite that I've played all jam.  I thought the music and wind was calming and relaxing.  The story was compelling, and grabbed my attention from the beginning.  The fact that the world was procedurally generated was an accomplishment and worked out really well.  And the sailing mechanics (such as catching the crosswind) felt very good as well.  Oh yeah, and I loved the bird noises!  Well done!

Submitted(+1)

Contemplative, relaxing, emotional and extremely well polished. It's more an "experience" than a game, but one of the best experiences you can have in a 64x64 display. Excellent work!

Submitted(+1)

This was a very relaxing experience, and reading the messages in bottles added something special~ It's a game I feel I'll certainly come back to time and time again!

Submitted(+1)

Very atmospheric game! On the game page you wrote that the music is randomly generated and that's just so awesome.

Submitted(+2)

Beautifully done! Without a doubt one of the best games I've played thus far. From the sweet story to the serene soundtrack and unique mechanics & gameplay, this entry epitomizes what a jam game should be. Its short, sweet, and beautiful. The wind mechanic was engaging, and it felt so cool to almost plot my own course across the waves based on the wind charts, unfurling my sails and picking up bottles as I went. The soothing soundtrack playing amidst the pulsing ocean waves calmed me to the core, and the best part of this tranquility was when it was broken by the caw and call of the birds. They were an amazing touch, bringing so much life into the world, and at the same time making me feel even lonelier. Well done!

Submitted(+1)

I really like the relaxing music and chill gameplay, especially with an interesting story behind it!

Submitted(+1)

I love how minimalistic and simple yet relaxing this is!

HostSubmitted(+1)

Very nice!

Submitted(+1)

This was a very interesting experience. I especially like the minimalism with which you drew everything, even in the little details like the birds flying away.

Great job 😀

Submitted(+1)

This game is so relaxing, and its interesting to see where your boat will go based on the wind currents. Good job!

Submitted(+1)

:) this was so peaceful and fun! I liked the controls and the overall flow of the game!

Just one thing, but is more for me, but although is fun to sailing around, the lack of an objective kind killed the mood after a while.

Overall good job :D

Submitted(+1)

Sad but touching.  This was a lovely little jaunt on the ocean and had a uniquely wonderful atmosphere. Nice job!

Submitted(+1)

Thoroughly enjoyable!

Submitted(+1)

Absolutely loved the controls, the visuals, the map, everything. And the little side story going on. Super well done. Best game I have played in this jam.

Submitted(+1)

My favorite game of the jam so far! Very simple graphics but you conveyed the movement of the boat really well, it's very satisfying to get as much wind as possible in your sail. I love that you went for little bits of writing as a reward for exploration. I was disappointed when I started to find empty bottles (I assume that means I had read everything). I don't know, it really worked for me :)

Congrats!