I had a lot of fun playing this - it feels like it would make a great console game, especially if it was fleshed out with more story throughout the seasons as the main gameplay loop becomes a bit repetitive eventually. I loved all the storytelling details through environmental interactions. Sadly, I got to day 12 and couldn't progress.
Here are notes I took as I played:
nice music and ambient noise
long loading
quit just freezes game, doesn't minimize back to itch window
this is cool, fps?ish? surprising, not what I expected
ui explanation for far more is simple and easy to understand - the f button graphic is nice
background box and text in UI could be slightly more polished, maybe slight color gradient instead of black, different font, maybe some text shadow
red recycle bar, yellow charge? together the two kinda remind me of radiation warnings
farm view is cool
what a sad old house :(
plot needs cleaning...how? Maybe I walk there?
hmm, why can't I turn around to look at the house? clicking helped fix it, was only able to rotate view like 270 degrees - had minimized game to type in here, maybe an issue cropped up when returning
sunflowers are pretty
chainsaw and gas tank and rope...who owned this house?! :P
switching screens (eg alt tabbing to notepad) changes music track. Liking all the songs
like the detail of mud on the truck, axe in the tree, rope swing, clothesline. Good scene building
ooh found a greenhouse. Nice UI instruction with the click icon to pick plants
ahh my lightning bolt is dropping. takes energy to harvest
pretty long range on harvesting, nice, don't have to take a bunch of steps
wrong error message appears to be displaying - energy is at 0 but attempting to harvest is showing me one of the random "plant not ready to be harvested" messages. I think it should be giving an error about energy level being low? I like the randomization here. messages are well written. Sometimes 2-3 messages pop up instead of 1.
hmm how to restore energy
oh i can open greenhouse door, looks like the door doesn't have collison, walked through it
proper display of no energy message when attempting to clear yard. looks like all the apostrophes have been missed or stripped from these messages ("im so tired" "I just dont have the energy" "thats it for the day"
love the random messages with the pond, now i want to go find other features. Some messages in this list are missing periods, the one about swimming days
reflection of sun off water is nice
drifting specks in air is pretty
truck has interact (hand) icon instead of chat (speech bubble) icon. extra a in grandma/grandpa ("aa very long") message. I guess I have to learn to drive stick - ROFL, love it
ok i should probably rest
oh no it's locked
clicking chimney makes pretty sparks. Not sure if it's doing anything. Looks like toggling fireplace on/off - from the outside?
water tank has interact not chat icon. Maybe not bug, maybe I interact with these later?
view can clip into water tank and outhouse
lol, the outhouse messages are great. Few more punctuation errors.
produce stand is so cute, messages about its decline tug at heart strings. can clean up here even with zero energy.
running away into the hills! does the world have a boundary?
Beautiful image of the game world from far off up the hill, the golden specks are really pretty
ahhh i ran off the world and now i'm having an existential crisis, it's just grey nothing... maybe add invisible wall at game world boundaries
ok restart, clean some junk this time as well as harvest again
swing interaction is great, maybe slow swing animation a bit
hmm where is key
swapping to download client instead of browser afer seeing itch page comments. much faster loading time (obviously, lol)
oh wow how did I miss the letter on the greenhouse before? handwriting may be tricky to read for some users. AH switch text button, AWESOME. default font could be a little nicer
wooo stocking stall
wow I got a lot of tomato (85?!)
hmm is there any downside to placing all my stuff up for sale? Will it rot if not bought, or is everything I put up just sold? Saving a few in case
can't get mouse focus back in game when alt-tabbing during the stall inventory screen, have to close and reopen to interact with UI again
oh duh the key is for the workshop, house is unlocked
zzzz bedtime
oops double bedtime. total sales $0 :(
can clip into workshop from stairwell
wheelbarrow has interact icon but doesn't seem to do anything
yay cleared enough to prepare soil! Oh, no energy, darn
"add all" button to stall would be nice
wonder about seasonal/variety bonus, seems like the variety bonus is the same no matter how many types i have
can clip under the stairs and get kinda stuck, takes a lot of backing out to get mobile again
should it be total sales: instead of total sales.
ooh it's raining today! hmm house is leaky, some is coming in by the stairs
aww my recycle meter has gone down!
ok plant time. Plant cost - does that mean it takes 3 brocoli? I sold all mine...
ooh just found letter by the bed, great story details here - this seems really important for the player to find early on in gameplay, maybe make the player start in the bedroom after waking up with the camera facing the letter, make it glow? I think finding it earlier would make gameplay better
grandpa's handbook is REALLY useful, but it's also information dense. Maybe once read, add it to the UI for access in the future without having to go back to his workshop. Good writing.r
there seems to be an almost translucent panel in the left side of the screen. Didn't notice it until I read grandpa's journal, where the dark background makes it easier to see
i'm not sure if planting is working. It's taking my energy, but I get told "confirm to cultivate plot" but nothing happens. Animation is showing ploughed dirt. I like how the terrain updates real time!
ok next day, some plants have appeared. hovering it gives cultivate option, trying that makes plants disappear... Gonna just leave it, not sure what that's doing.
would be nice if the info in farming view updated to show what was planted/how far along in growth it is, when hovering over a plot with something planted in it
still dunno what my recycle meter represents
Looks like gameplay is basically this from here on, harvesting when plants are done. staying in bedroom and skipping days. This would be nice if there was story to introduce variety and progression, like people visiting the market or receiving letters in the mail.
day 12, game seems to hang. Just displaying "total sales." and then no amount and no way to start the day.
no way to save game :(