itch.io

NP, I love the art of games ^_^

Overall a really fun solid game. The sprites were cute and easy to read, the use of black and white was well used to differentiate foreground, background, and characters (not an easy task), and the physics were a natural experience.  Here are some things I think should be reviewed:

1.) Personally, when spacebar is used to jump, I prefer to use the arrow keys over WASD for movement, that way I can use both hands. That may just be a personal preference, but most games I've played allow for both.

2.) Implement some sort of flashing or fade out when the player is damaged, returning to normal when the invincibility is gone; It was hard to time when my invincibility is over, and this will also help differentiate between enemy and player damage since these two make the same noise.

3.) There was a strange bug where when I hit ESC and selected to exit, the game just continued, the character froze in place (not interacting with anything) and key presses did not read.

4. ) I enjoyed how respawns worked. That being said, I couldn't tell if I was supposed to avoid the enemies or clear the enemies before proceeding. Because ghosts wouldn't go back to their original position, they would block paths and then I'd have no choice but to take damage.

I moved to a primarily blue state where there are a lot less protests and more open minded people. My immediate family will not talk to me about the topic,  but my nieces and nephews have opened up to me about their pro-choice journeys,  so I can be a shoulder for them. 

If I may piggyback on what you said about "easy answers" though.  My transition was not easy.  And that's the biggest reason I share these tough stories.  I don't think there is an easy answer because every abortion is for different reasons.  That's part of why I like this game, it illustrates that very fact.

Life was never a gaurantee. People with uteruses still die during childbirth, a lot.  Children died consistently from disease,  and Anti vaxxers brought back those very diseases. People have forgotten this. Abortion was never a way to end life,  but help save it,  and you can't claim to be pro-life and anti-abortion.

This is a beautiful demo, but there are some technical problems that make it near unplayable. Maybe it was just my system, but I couldn't walk or run up stairs? I had to walk sideways over and over again to get up any.  Also, I couldn't skip through NPC dialogue. It seemed to randomly decide when it was done.

I think with the right technical team, this could be an amazing remake. The colors, shaders, and general modeling were amazing. Illusion of Gaia was one of my favorite games growing up and the design really captures the spirit of the old game.

I'm going to express my opinion on this matter, and I'm not going to respond to comments because I've had A LOT of exposure to this topic, and I'm only posting for those who want real advice.

My mother would take me to protests to speak out against Planned Parenthood (PP). I remember these rallies vividly, especially since I would directly ask people why they wanted to kill babies (I was 5).  My mom believed they threw away baby carcasses in the dumpster and wouldn't let me near them.  She would then show me pictures of aborted fetuses, usually the "vacuum" method.

I also feel the need to say my father worked in Hospice and watched A LOT of infants die throughout my own childhood.  This was very hard on him, and for much of my childhood he was cold, distant, and angry.

As I've matured, I've read about miscarriage rates, the amount of infants who've died because of disease, the reality that my grandfather's first wife could have lived if she had an abortion, and that my mother's own disability is probably due to the births my brother and I put her through.

Oh yeah, and the bible's pro-abortion messages (yep, the bible is actually pretty pro-abortion, you're allowed to kill a baby up to about 6 months of age according to God).

Ultimately, I feel this game hits it right.  When you carry a child, you have hopes for what your child will be.  But the reality is, nature doesn't care. And until you've been in the position to watch a child or loved one die due to a poor pregnancy, you don't get to have an opinion, period.