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The bi-ba dialogue is a perfect solution honestly! From what little I’ve played of text-heavy narrative games I think quite a few of them choose to go down this route. I think the specific bi/ba samples you used for this is really nice and fit the vibe.

Yeah I had a feeling that the pitch was only meant to rise a little bit but instead it shortens to a click xD

I tested on Edge and Firefox and it happens in both browsers, perhaps Edge might be raising the pitch a little less though.

For the first time working with real sounds you did a really good job! There are still some sounds which are a bit harsh imo, like the planting sound, shovelling the plant, picking up the watering can. The footsteps particularly stood out to me. I think you’ve incorporated sharp (metallic) sounds? I’m not sure something that harsh and audible was needed for this game, though the sound design itself is quite nice.

About the music – I find myself disagreeing with how much attention it demands, if that makes sense. Both in how it’s present in the “voice” frequency regions and how the melody moves around a lot and asks you to follow it. But I also felt it adds a hopeful touch and emotional weight which was essential to the heart of the game.

I think I got to the end, but I’m not quite sure whether I did? I don’t necessarily want to spoil the ending though.

I really liked the overall atmosphere. It’s oppressive. The sound and music choices are excellent. The heavily processed pictures are very analog-horror (I suppose the whole game is?) and made me stare at the dark spots wondering if there was something there. The sound you use to lead up to the images was scary even when I began to anticipate it.

The gameplay itself does get repetitive, but perhaps that’s a message in itself? The bits of lore about Leaden Fever and the messages/notes on the computer are intriguing. I think they do a great job at capturing the heart of this game – the feeling of being stuck, the slow-burn building of the stress of being indoors, of being lonely, of feeling helpless, of time coming to a total standstill but still somehow moving way too fast.

I also liked the exploration of different personas – maybe it is better to call them masks or selves? Sometimes you find yourselves at odds with the person others perceive you as or want you to be.

Also if anyone’s wondering: no, there are no jumpscares :)

So I clicked because the art was interesting, but I’m actually invested now. The concept is pretty cool – eavesdropping within a (anxiety-ridden) memory while needing to stay out of sight. I was pleasantly surprised by the sudden change in the middle. It’s a nice balance of narrative and gameplay. And now I really want to know what that last conversation is about. Is that the bug you’ve mentioned in the description?

I’ll look forward to future updates, then :)

(only if you get around to it, I see the team collaborates frequently so I expect there will be more cool stuff in the future)

SFX and music do kind of get left for the end because there’s just soo much stuff to do. Even in our team – where my only responsibility was audio/music – I decided to wait until all the systems were in before making any final products. I ended up writing all the music in the last month and due to some unforeseen irl issues I ended up cutting it much closer than expected. I finished the main menu music just 6 hours before the deadline T_T

Well, it was still fun.

I really enjoyed the plant-crafting mechanics! It’s basically plant alchemy. Match the right customer to the right potion… uh plant. I was not expecting the purple bits, I like that they’re a bit open to interpretation while also being clear in what effect they have on the protagonist.

The soft-edged art is great, gives the game a fuzzy, warm vibe. The sound and music is wonderful too. You also had a song there at the end? Couldn’t really make out the lyrics because I was reading the letters to be honest, but it sounded nice!

I like how the dialogue sfx switches to different ones at the purple bits. The dialogue sfx is procedural? There are some lines where it gets oddly high/short, is that intended?

All of the sfx pertaining to the plant-making feels so tactile, but my favourite must be the water droplets hitting the floor/pot. There’s one sound I didn’t like though, the hover-over-button sound in the menu screens. It’s really loud in comparison to everything else, and a little bit harsh.

I have a soft spot for pastel colours and the hand-drawn look, super cozy! I really enjoyed the story and dialogue, they’re what really pulled me through the game. I like how rude some of the characters start out and then proceed to become nicer lol.

The platforming puzzles were fun too, really liked the level design, just the right amount of challenge for me, though I think some sections could give us a larger margin of error (like large jumps where you barely make it or timed buttons which give us a very narrow window). The mechanic with the needle is good, but I wish there was an explanation for how it can press buttons on the way back, whether in a dialogue box or through level design. The needle double jump was a fun mechanic, I wish there was more of it.

The open design of the town was cool, I had to read actual signs to get through it and that’s immersive. I noticed the sewers are always accessible though, and if someone got in there before going to the library it would be unintentionally challenging.

Some things I would’ve liked to see were more audiovisual feedback when the needle impacts something or when we hit a button to recall it. I think I would’ve liked more sfx in general, maybe some ambiences to support the wonderful background art.

I’m not really sold on some aspects of the sewer section – like the biohazard/radioactive barrels being oddly dangerous items underneath a peaceful town. The music gets darker too which I found to be at odds with the rest of the soundtrack. I see that library music was used alongside original music, I think the selection was really good overall since most of them fit well.

Also the character art is cute, love that Fern’s eyes close when they jump haha.

Thank you so much! I notice a few comments pop up here and there about the sound (though yours is the most in-depth so far) and I'm glad to see my wacky choices are appreciated. I decided early on to go full synths because the aesthetic reminded my of Tron - bright things on black background and a neon grid. The melodic stuff wormed its way into the design once I made the forge sound. I realised that since I didn't have time to write music, I might as well go all in on that stuff.

To be fair getting the droplet to fly is difficult lol. You have to hold the direction key, then absolutely spam Space->Shift->Space->Shift

I feel like the losing/gaining mass from damage/dash wasn't utilised to its full potential. I'd play a movement puzzle game with those mechanics. It's really fun even like this. Forget about the dash, the smallest form is absurdly light and fast and doesn't need it haha

I like that the timer encourages a speedy approach and the fact that you have to go back to the starting point. I had a little trouble with the controls initially, but I absolutely zipped through the levels once I figured them out. Also found a little bug where spamming jump and dash lets you fly lol. Either way there's potential for interesting movement tech.

As an audio person, I really liked the orchestral Ghibli/epic music. I sat around listening to the exit track, it was really good! But maybe a bit long for its purpose. All the water droplet sounds were lovely, especially the pick-up - it's like a water-coin hybrid of sorts. The garden tool dialogue incorporating sounds of the tools was a nice touch as well, though I wish there was more than the one audio sample.

Hey, I'm a 23 y/o composer/sound designer! I've done a little bit of work with Godot before too.

Here's a variety of musical snippets: https://soundcloud.com/anubhab-sett/sets

I did the sound design on this game: https://cityships.itch.io/yeti-vs-bats

Hello, might you need a sound designer/composer? I've been focussing more on sound lately, so I've actually been wanting to work alongside another composer. I have a little bit of experience in Godot as well.

Here's my music portfolio: https://soundcloud.com/anubhab-sett/sets

I did the sound design for this game recently: https://cityships.itch.io/yeti-vs-bats

Hey, I'm a composer/sound designer! I was wondering  if I could join your team? I have a little experience with Godot as well. There's a link to my SoundCloud portfolio on my profile. Feel free to send me a message on Discord at comet1772.

Hello! Sound designer here, I've messaged you on Discord

Hey, I'm a composer/sound designer. Not in EU timezone either, but at UTC +5:30. I've been focussing on sound design lately so I'd love to work alongside another composer and a team. The relaxed vibes you're going for with this game is something I've been interested in capturing. I don't know what the scope of your game is - maybe it's too small for needing a sound designer? Either way if you want to chat, send me a message on discord at comet1772.

Here's some of my musical work: https://soundcloud.com/anubhab-sett/sets

I also did all the sound design on this project: https://cityships.itch.io/yeti-vs-bats

Good luck with the jam!

Perhaps it is true what they say about eldritch horror being more suited to text simply because our imagination does the rest of the work.

I like that the descriptions don't run on. There's enough ambiguity to create a sense of paranoia but enough detail to feel specific and tactile. I liked the sequence at the top of the lighthouse for the same reasons - it's spooky throughout but the moment you get to inspect it you end up re-evaluating what happened. The hidden text could be a bit of a bottleneck for some people because the hint isn't listed anywhere, I figure that's one feedback you will get often. I was lucky enough to find it on my first playthrough. After that, I ended up checking a lot of places, only to find nothing. When it works, I think it can be a great moment; it really put in me in the headspace of a paranoid Lovecraftian protagonist. I also liked the indirect nature of figuring out the laboratory password. All in all, a fun little game.

Good luck with your degree!

Thanks for playing! Yeah the way the bat was programmed, the sticks can take out multiple bats if the collision happens at the same time.

Alex whipped up some really nice art in the short time we had. We didn't have the time to get some extra animations set up unfortunately. I added an extra chirp-sound to the bats getting hit to provide some auditory feedback, but it's not ideal.

Thanks again, appreciate your feedback.

You're welcome. Really enjoyed the game as well! Though the parkour mechanics are broken hahaha. Once I understood the mechanics I skipped a bunch of campfires and headed straight to the final one.

I had the same issue for the web version, so I got the downloaded version and it was much nicer.

Ooh, that's an interesting engine. Seems like a labour of love.

Obviously take my observations about the level design with a grain of salt. But I can tell you what I enjoyed - after trying to interact with the ship and getting a come-back-later message, it felt nice to remember to go there the next morning and be rewarded for remembering.

Yes, the message I got when I tried to start a fire before getting the flint was "Now I need to start the fire." so it didn't imply that I needed anything, or what I needed specifically.

"Throw sticks at the bats." actually shows up in the tutorial text after "Bats will damage your campfire." but it's possible to miss if it's outside your view.

Yeah, I can see that some tweaks could be made to the controls. Maybe left click will suffice for both the throwing and picking up.

This is very cool. Feels very complete with all the UI and settings. I didn't expect an intro cutscene as well!

I think the way the opening area is designed can make the objective confusing because of the order in which we encounter points of interest. I had most of the items collected before I understood where I needed to set up camp. I did run around and press interact on anything that looked interesting, so I got by.

I had some trouble positioning myself exactly where I needed to be to interact/pick-up things. I thought the player speed was a little fast for that kind of precision.

About the flint-stones, I got them because it was a unique looking object along the shoreline. But when testing what happened if I set up a fire without the flint, it didn't give me a message about needing that item, so I imagine that someone could be lost if they didn't have that.

I really enjoyed it overall and liked the art - especially when Aika gets that cloak from the sails! I'm curious which software you used to pull this off so quickly.

Thanks! Some bat sounds were actually missing which I recently patched.

Yeah, once a summoner screeches, the number of bats can get overwhelming. Maybe the lack of sound made the summon mechanic unclear? If you knock them out consistently you should have no problem. I actually made some minor balance adjustments but I don't know if that makes it much easier.

Nothing much happens after the bar fills up lol. The bats stop spawning and you win.

Hope to add a "Try Again" button at some point, maybe post-jam. Thanks for playing!

Thanks! If you throw a stick at the bat, the bat should disappear, if that's what you mean?

I love the storytelling through the puzzles! Had a little trouble with the second last one because the background texture felt visually cluttered. The reveal of all the boxes on the last puzzle caught me off  guard! Did you start with the last puzzle and work backwards?