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tenderfoot's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Visuals | #1 | 4.714 | 4.714 |
| Audio | #3 | 3.643 | 3.643 |
| Overall | #6 | 3.411 | 3.411 |
| Mechanics | #12 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Writing | #14 | 2.786 | 2.786 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
- What a stellar entry to Ravel Jam! This beautiful game took my breath away! Starting out with a brilliant concept, I was instantly hooked. The idea of wrestling back control over naming plants was absolutely inspired, and wonderfully articulated in the game's opening. The art was stellar, and the music very atmospheric, but what I appreciated most about this entry was how words took center stage. I feel you really knocked it out of the park with this for two reasons; First, you gave me an opportunity to play with words, something that none of the other entries really scratched at. Second, the poems were beautifully emotive, well written, and exceptionally impactful in their economy. I feel like there's a lesson here for all the Ravellers; you don't need to use a lot of words to deliver a deeply moving experience through writing. I did wonder about how the gameplay could have been streamlined to better serve the experience. On my first playthrough I landed up naming all the plants before I found them - might it have felt more rewarding if I could only name a plant after I had discovered it? Would it have added to the pay off of discovering a plan if it's image were only added to the book after discovery? Or was it better that the image in my book gave me some clue about what I was searching for? One issue I ran into was feeling frustrated that when I reached the edges of the playable area. It would likely feel better if this were motivated through the art (like showing a lake or a cliff that 's halting progress). I also wouldn't have minded a larger area to explore, as this part of the game was a delight. One of my favorourite moments was just basking in the pool of light breaking through the canopy of the forest. I can't say enough good things about this game. Thank you for giving me such a beautiful experience!
- Loved the art above all else, the concept is lovely and deserves more time than the jam. I really liked that it felt personal and human, which is how I interpreted the opening text. The controls were a frustration in an otherwise lovely game.
Student Prize
nope
First Game
nope
Strangers in the Night Prize
nope
Best Solo Game
kinda- not really
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Comments
I absolutely love the visuals and the fact I got to rename the plants to my beloved Jorge, Spleena, Pleenabus and Uhla.
The paralax was a tad bit discombobulating but I appreciate what you were going for. I found myself spam-clicking between trying to move (the boundary was unclear as to how far either side I could go) and finding the plants. I also think it'd be neat if the game started with an instruction to make the goal a bit clearer as I found myself winging it when starting the game.
Overall a really neat concept :D
Really like the concept of the game! Please get in touch with me if you want to take this idea/game further, I'd love to help where I can (I have an eco science background).
The art for this is great, haven't played the updated version that is without the white square yet. The parallax is a bit hectic though and I got a bit of motion sickness while clicking around. There was a few visual glitches but considering time restraints well done!
Goes without saying, but the art in this is incredible. Spectacular. (Though I agree that the stark white square player was a bit jarring among all the beautiful scenery.)
The parallax also looked really nice, though I would have liked some damping on the movement. For my eyes/sinuses.
In terms of controls, I would have liked to have a separation between the clicking to find things and the moving; I was often clicking on things to see if it's a thing, and then moving. It's not a huge deal, but a little annoying. (E.g. having left click be for selecting things and right click for moving would have solved this.)
I also wonder if it would have felt cooler to have the player add the plants to the book by examining things rather than already knowing all the ones they're looking for? (Or a textual description, which turns into a sketch once you find it?) I think a sense of discovery is paramount to what this game seems to be about, so leaving a bit more mystery to start out with might have been good? (Also, I feel like my ability to come up with a good name for a plant massively improves once I see the poem; i.e. having the players "discover" new plants and only then sketch and name them would have been cool.)
I think I made it to the end; your description says I'll unlock a poem if I find all the plants, but I don't think I did (unless you meant the individual poems for each separate plant, which I did enjoy for all four).
Anyway, what a beautiful and chill experience. Very cool.
(Played the jam build)
Thanks for playing!
Yeah I'm uploading a post-jam build not with a character :) it does feel alot better.
Separating the clicks is a good idea, the people who were playtesting were also spam clicking which I didnt like too much.
Yeah, I originally planned to have it like that, where the player adds the drawing after finding ALL the plants, but I was worried that they wouldn't know what they were looking for. Perhaps I am holding their hand too much.
Yeah there could be more of an "end" Maybe a finishing poem or something.
Good feedback, thanks
I agree with Zirk. Visuals and artwork is awesome. There was a white square in the middle of the screen, not sure if it was suppose to be there. It distracted a bit from the experience, but not game breaking. Well done overall.
Lol the white square represented where the player would be :')
Thanks for playing
haha ok cool, my bad. Great game man!
Visually very cool! Music gives a great calming vibe, all I could think about was who drew all the pictures in the booK. Not a lot of narrative but I think it's a very cool game very calming
I drew it all <3 Thanks for playing.
Yeah I spent alot of time on art and was left with alot less time on the narrative, oh well...
Vibe, art, and audio were excellent, and the book UI definitely improved in the second upload, but the mechanics felt quite basic, and the narrative was very thin.
Love the vibe, and the way it all fits together. It's a really nice proof of concept, and I reckon that all of it can be expanded nicely.
For me, the experience felt more like I was collecting poetry, and I think that should be leaned into. Maybe as you explore you collect vocabulary (inspiration), and then you let players put that together fridge-poetry-style. Alternatively you could do something like the poetry or songs in Kentucky Route Zero.
Also, I hit a few bugs with the book. I got the wrong flowers popping up in the book after interacting with the environment. It might have something to do with the sequence of interaction? And that's totally variable from the player's perspective where the goal isn't clear from the beginning.
Music is sweet, art is fire. Probably your best work yet! Totally love the book illustrations. For me, I want more book time.
I think it's not quite clean enough for a writing-prompt game (see Trawl), and not quite deep enough for an exploration/discovery game, but it could go either way, or both, and maybe some proc-gen would do it good in both areas.
Yeah! I saw the bug! Its actually not updating the image when it is forced to a specific page. Such a silly oversight But I guess thats what you get with an 11 o-clock submission.
Yeah I wanted it to be more of a poetry thing. But the book to be more in depth as well. For instance when you click on a plant it'll say something unique about it. This is how it flowers etc.
The free form writing is also nice. Perhaps I can tie that into the poetry and make it more interactive.
Thanks yeah, I think I spent too much time on the art and not enough time on the poetry.
Thanks for playing <3
This art is amazing, so much parallax 0.0