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Man I loved this. Absolutely frickin cool idea, and has such a vast potential, I'm kind of jealous I didn't think of it :D Seriously though, the core concept and mechanics are superb, and the world has the potential to be something really quite original and very very cool. Only cos I loved it so much, I'm gonna give some constructive criticism on the art, for me it was the thing that failed to meet the standards set by the other parts of the game. For me, pixel art is a matter of scaling, and really the kind of size portraits and detail needed for the cut scenes needs a lot of work, and is easily the hardest thing to do with pixel art. Like, it's worth it, but it will take a long time and a lot of work to get a pixel art cutscene looking as good as it needs to be to support the rest of the game. You could consider digitising some photos or pixellating some vector art using whatever pixel art software you use, or even getting AI to do it just for the cutscene portraits and then keep the backgrounds in the style you have. The main game sprites are cool but I think they could be made just amazingly awesome with a bit of work, if you basically get a OG pokemon ash type sprites and use a MSX, NES or GBC palette. Like, I'm not sure if it's your thing, if your learning pixel art then sweet, within a few iterations you'll be getting there anyway, if it's a drag for you then just get on Fiver or something and get some made up, or even just find assets on Unity Store or wherever, or I'd be more than happy to do some 16 x 16 sprites for you, just cos I love this idea so much, no charge obvs :D But tbh it's all subjective stuff and maybe you much prefer this style, and that's totally cool but I would think about the cutscenes.  

Aaaanyway, back to the game - man I LOVE the cards, they totally rock.  Awesome art and characters. So cool ;) Game loop is really cool and fun, I'd defo like to see day/night cycle, character has to go home, speak to mum, maybe have some interactables and stuff - bit kind of Persona ish :)  Also I think each time you unlock a character in the shop they should appear on the map in day time and you can interact and maybe play them at the card game. This might happen, I've only played for 25 mins so far and failed badly at first haha, but it hadn't happened so far. Also, I think you need more interesting and varied idle animations, that'd be cool I think. If you did bring other characters on map, they could even be doing things, like on swings or kicking a ball or playing the card game.

So yeah, absolutely frickin cool idea, really well executed in the time, and basically a brilliant effort and a triumph of the boot camp method haha :D

Hey Davy, thanks a lot for the kind words! :)

Yeah I totally get what you mean with the art. I'm no artist, but the cutscenes in particular I had to rush to get the game finished in time. :D I already had a plan to work on those over time and improve my skills by practicing with this game. The art I worked on the most would be the character profiles, as you might be able to tell. They're a bit better than the rest of the art. If you want to contribute with 16x16 sprites for the kid characters I'm on board! I love collaborating on a project with other game devs, so I welcome you with open arms.

The art on the cards is AI art, which I'm kind of on the fence about replacing it with my own art or not. On the one hand, I would like the whole game to have my own art in it, but on the other hand, it saves me a lot of time and since they're fictional creatures for a card game within my game, the art style doesn't necessarily have to match the rest of the game.

The rest of the ideas you brought up were already on my TODO list. :) Day/night cycles, other characters to interact with on the playground, etc. I plan on continuing this project for a while, adding more to it until I feel like it's ready for Steam (it would be my first Steam release)!

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Awesome man, that's great you're carrying it on. I'd defo be up for the sprites, in fact I've started on a few already :D I'll get in touch on Discord and send you the ideas and see what you think. Tbh they are pure 80s/early90s GB style, but at first I'm using the Master System palette just cos it's simple and I love it. All that can be changed. Also, you may think they aren't that great. and that's fine, no pressure to use anything I make at all :)  I've gone ahead and started doing a few buildings as well haha.

That's awesome you've already started to work on that other stuff, it is gonna be such a cool little game!

Tbh sometimes AI really nails it haha, a lot of time it's janky as shit and all that, but those cards are really quite cool. You could use them as a template for a paid artist if you get any budget behind the game, but really for what you are doing now, they seem to be so perfect it'd be kind of a shame not to use them :D

Excellent work man, like I say I'll get in touch on Discord and see what you think about any sprites I've made ;)