Thanks, Jon. I was able to play the web version just now. Impressive that you were able to do so much with world-building, user interface, character movement, AND storytelling in a jam weekend! If you wanted to keep pushing this, you have such a great base of elements. And a story of place, people, and change is always so compelling.
b-r-i-a-n
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I really enjoyed this—the sharp descriptive writing of both place and characters, the focus on the text yet with visuals (maps are so powerful to storytelling experiences and give a sense of agency). The quests. The money system. All of it. My one lingering question is what might have happened if I lied more about about how much things cost. I'm not sure how much the consequences of lying play into the story/game design but I am intrigued. (I played it pretty honest.) If it is important, then I would have like to been forced into a situation where I needed to lie/inflate to get something and then experience the knock-on effect/consequence of that lying because that moral dilemma added another layer of compelling to the story for me. Great job on this!
On my first run-through the story felt too random but on playing a second time I used the "you try to think of a better option" choice and kept running through that to explore the options until I exhausted them. That simple act shifted my mindset. I went from story listener (what is your story telling me) to more fully playing the role of a storyteller (what's my next sentence I want to tell)—almost like improv. And that made things really fun. Separately, congratulations on navigating a weekend of obstacles to get something out for us to experience!
Trippy, atmospheric—imagery and dream contents (writing). I'm not sure I figured out what caused my sanity to increase/decrease entirely which was a bit confusing but also added to the dreamlike, doesn't-behave-like-normal-life effect. Well done using images so effectively to heighten the feeling of experience overall.
My blood pressure went up racing to the escape pod—as does the idea of managing all the elements of this story (character design, layout, music, narration) in 72 hours! I had fun exploring the space and characters. Agree that some restraint with what you are able to do with binksi/bitsy (i.e. the jumpy text) would have helped me focus more. Well done.
Same comment. Wasn't sure if I hit a bug or the end. Started thinking it was intentional given the game description.
Since this is my first game jam, I don't where (or if) people find time to play test stuff to sort out things like this. But in addition to enjoying playing your game, I also appreciate learning from it.
Now that I know, I'm going to go back and try for the whole. Thanks!
Your fluid writing kept pulling me forward in the story which was very satisfying! What felt unsatisfying was dying suddenly (which I did a two times on play throughs) after getting into the the story. For example, I had the diver suit (which I figure could be used in the water) but decided to explore the forest. Big mistake. Rather than die immediately (with no undo) maybe you can reward my exploration with some new text and warn me danger is ahead and if keep going further into the forest then kill me. :) I’m pointing out a good problem to have since I wanted to keep reading.
Polished. Loved the sound track/effects. Overall, I craved being more a consequential participant in the story and welcomed those moments when I could choose actions that gave insight to the characters (i.e. choosing to smoke after being told not to, or choosing to steal another glance of Violet or not). Also, I liked the shift of point-of-view between the two characters. Nice work!