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Auburn's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #9 | 4.586 | 4.586 |
| Overall | #21 | 4.275 | 4.275 |
| Audio | #23 | 4.114 | 4.114 |
| Gameplay | #53 | 3.743 | 3.743 |
| Authenticity (use of resolution) | #68 | 4.657 | 4.657 |
Ranked from 70 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
A total of four people contributed. I worked on the implementation and all the artwork. Akty Element worked on the music. Major Bruno provided a lot of the sound effects. And V3X3D provided some of the character animations.
Was the resolution a challenge?
One of the biggest hurdles we faced at first was scrolling. Due to the art style of bright colours on a black background, scrolling felt really choppy, so in the end we went for static screens with scrolling only when transitioning from one screen to another.
What did you learn?
How to actually stick to a deadline and release something. It made us think about when a game is considered "finished"! :-D
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Comments
Nicely done! I really like the art style, the gameplay, and the color palette. And the music helped pull everything together.
I’m so happy you liked it. I was a bit nervous when I started that the gameplay idea might not work exactly as I had imagined it, but it turned out well in the end. 😊
I love the atmosphere playing this game, it’s cute and has a mystery element that makes you want to keep playing (though I did not completely finish it). The dialogue is so well done, and the vibrant style and animations are somewhat dreamlike. Really, I cant wait to finish the game after I play some others! ;D
Thank you so so much, I’m really glad you enjoyed playing it. I’m happy you liked the dialogue because that was really tough to get right, especially since there’s so little room to work with.
Full of character. Very charming and beautifully animated and colored. I love the use of transparency and colorful light. Really well done!
Thank you so much! That’s one of the reasons I love this style of pixel art, it’s possible to make something that feels vibrant and had lots of character. 😊
woah, this oozes personality! because of the low resolution, there are pauses in dialogue that i find add to the overall charm. you nailed the atmosphere as well, fantastic job!
Thank you so much, I’m really glad you enjoyed it. The dialogue was a real challenge to get right. I ended up rewriting lots of it specifically to get word breaks to fit in the right places!
Just finished the game. The color palette reminds me of Dizzy games, specifically the ZX Spectrum variants because they also had a black background. Although this game has a much more pleasing to the eye color palette. The visuals work well together and the game concept is simple and fun, without being too long to be monotonous. It took me a while to figure out what to do with the chicken.
Not too sold on the hard pixel style. You mentioned scrolling issues, things like plants animations (I liked that they are animated) look also bit weird, the hard pixels make it cut too quickly, as if there was a tearing issue with the display almost. Also, I didn't really like the black outlines on the characters, especially with the worm and the bee, felt strange, probably because the background is also black.
Also, I had some issues with the controls. When trying to press the down arrow key in framed mode, the browser window kept scrolling down. I had to switch to fullscreen mode to finish the fish/bee parts.
Hey, thanks for the great feedback. I’m glad you picked up on the Dizzy vibe because those games were a big influence. I loved the Dizzy series when I was a kid.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by hard pixel style. Do you mean how the vines sway when you touch them?
Yeah. By hard pixel I mean no antialiasing. Outside of the particle effect of the elevator hitting the lower ground, there isn't really much of transparency in the game. Which is probably good, because it lends itself well to the aesthetic, but the vine movements feel jerky.
Awesome game! The art and dialogue have a lot of character which made it very engaging to explore the world!
Thank you so much. I tried to put some of my personality into the dialogue, so I’m happy that’s working out nicely. With more time I’d like to develop the personalities of the animals more so that they are each more distinct and unique
A very sweet game with nice art, overall good game my only comment is the backtracking which sometimes is too long with few stuff to do on the way after doing it multiple times :)
Maybe in the next version, each animal reach the other easily through a different path that others don't have access too :)
Thanks Ahmed, that’s a really fair comment. It’s something I noticed myself during testing. With more time I think I would overhaul parts of the world so that there’s less back tracking, whilst still having areas that only certain animals can reach. But I ran out of time for that in the jam. Maybe once voting is over I’ll go back to it. 🤞
A simple, sweet and good game. I liked the background music. It gave that little adventure atmosphere. I wish the sky, outside of underground places, were sky blue. But I get that this game is in NES style, so background must be in one color. Once again. Very good game.
Thank you so much, I’m really happy you enjoyed playing it. It’s actually inspired more by the graphics of the ZX Spectrum games I played as a kid, but without the same palette restrictions. Due to its hardware limitations most games used a solid black background, so I keep that here.
Incredible, incredible. Art is awesome, and it's a chill enjoyable game. One of the best entries here, no doubt
That’s very kind of you to say, I’m so happy you enjoyed playing it. 👽💜
A beautiful game to chill and get a little stuck every now and then
Thank you! My hope was that the map would be a lot bigger so that even when you get stuck and can’t figure out how to unlock the next animal there’s still lots to explore and interact with. But I ran out of time! Maybe once voting is over I’ll get chance to expand it. 🤞
niiiiice. I got a little stuck, but eventually watched others play through. This one is "winning" the jam in my opinion. Keep truckin!
Hey, that’s so kind of you to say! 😊 I’m glad you made it to the end eventually, but just of of interest, where did you get stuck?
I never realized you could go left from the start screen. Embarrassing. Lol.
Haha, no need to feel bad, quite a few people have said the same. It’s why I added the signpost at the 11th hour but it’s still kind of subtle! 😆
Really nicely done and some really good bases for more content to come! I loved the art, the music, everything was so good. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! I’m really looking forward to expanding it once voting is over, because I’ve got ideas for another 4 animals, but I ran out of time before I had to submit it! 😅
Pff, you knew all along that I'd have to rate this one highly. Such a whimsical vibe and the world feels very realized. Don't get me started about the beauty of it, wonderful tilesets.
The sound design is lovely as well. Very cool little world to explore. Right up my alley!
Haha, thank you! I’m really happy that the whimsical vibe comes through well, because that’s exactly how I wanted it to feel from the very beginning.
I’m planning on expanding the world after voting has closed. I’d intended for it to be twice as big big I ran out time! 😊
GAH, that's great news. This is so cool. I love how engaging it all feels, even within the context of simplified constraints / controls.
Beautiful start to something bigger? :)
I hope I didn't miss any of the game I got to the empty stone on the beach.
I think it could be the start of something yeah. I’ll certainly be taking this game further in the future because it seems like it’s really clicked with a lot of people, which makes me really happy.
And, yeah, you made it to the end. There was going to be one more animal, and that stone would have unlocked it, but I ran out of time.
fun character hopping gameplay!
Aww, I’m so glad you enjoyed it. This is an idea I’ve wanted to try out for a while, and it’s an idea I might incorporate into my main project now.
Awesome art that manages to look great at such a low resolution. Good job!
Thank you so much. It certainly was a challenge to get enough detail into the scenes at such a tiny resolution (that’s actually what drew me to this jam in the first place) so I’m really happy that it’s worked out well!
I really love the detail given to the tiles, it goes a long way in making the world feel fleshed out!
Thank you so much. I actually ended up drawing a lot of it manually and tweaking some individual tiles to make it feel more natural and organic, and less repetitive. 😊
I’ve been following your progress during the jam and the game already started as a very promising project and it’s come out great! I love your particular 1bit style… similar to ZX Spectrum art but without bleeding, and I must say it’s very interesting and particularly appealing for an old dog who grew with the Spectrum at home. Congratz and best luck in the jam!
Thank you so much! I’m really happy that the ZX Spectrum vibe is coming through (despite no restrictions on the palette) because that’s exactly the kind of feel I wanted for it! 😊
How’s your entry coming along? Do you think you’ll be finished by the deadline?
I am reducing scope… savegames are gone from the list and just a basic checkpoint system will be there I guess (still not implemented). Been all day with the lava pits… and seems those work fine now… just missing 1 core mechanic (serpet heads and their fireballs, but that will hopefully reuse part of the lava code) and a lot of work on the map… it will be tight, and i will work until the last minute I guess… but I think it’s feasible (even if just one part of the map hits this version)
It sounds like you still have your work cut out, but best of luck, I hope you manage it. I’m really looking forward to trying it the finished product!
Beautiful, simply BEAUTIFUL
here I thought LowRez can't be detail and you sir have proven me wrong
Haha, thank you so much! I’m happy to have proven you wrong! 😆
CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i also like the art style really reminds me of Dewdrop Dynasty (if you've heard of it) and i like it's art style just as much as yours
Hey, thank you so much! Yeah, Dewdrop Dynasty looks really interesting, someone else mentioned it the other day, so I added it to my wishlist, I’m looking forward to playing it when it releases.
Same