itch.io

Mini update 2024-12-23 version 2.2.0: various improvements after spending some more time on this, and friends' playtesting and feedback =)

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear you were struggling. This is helpful feedback. It was a 4hr game so not thoroughly playtested or optimized. I like the idea of a verbs list. Or at least I might publish the solution so people can check if they get stuck somewhere.
Now that it's Dec 1 I'm about to publish a post-jam version 2 with themes and an easier key location. But I think that won't even help in your case. Spoilers for the next step: I think what you were missing was taking the crow statue from the entryway and dropping it in the kitchen.

I wanted to add a way to switch fonts and colours, in case if the player would prefer a different look for readability or mood (I've done this in past games), but didn't think it was fair to spend more time on it for the jam. It's on my list for a post-jam version. Thanks for your feedback on this.

The mouse... (spoilers?) is just scenery! Part of the challenge in the game, it turns out, is actually just filtering through all the rubble and flavor text and finding out what actually matters... Sorry that may be disappointing.

Thanks for playing and for your comment.

This was so fun! Oh no, I mean dreadful! =) I replayed a few times to see what else would happen and managed to get 3/5 of the endings. This is kind of a two-in-one: the story itself and then the poem being produced. I think we can all relate to distractions and trying to write. The Raven (and your embellishments) lend a realistic spooky gothic mood. Nicely done.

I tried again with a little more knowledge and patience... very fun! I got 10/30 and had a great time doing magic things. If anyone else is as clueless as me going into this (spoilers now) I recommend starting with the olivine eyestone and finding animals... I can't remember where I found things, but examine everything and explore lots.

I really enjoyed this one. I just wish there were some more different pathways (I know there was no time). Love the appreciation for Lovecraft, the writing style, the imagery, and the story.

I've now realized how inexperienced at more complex games like this... I managed to get two trinkets, several amulets, and a couple of eyestones, but I wasn't able to figure out how to use them. I might have to come back to this one and explore more carefully.

Very cute. You have a knack for conveying life-like characters (or in this case, some are dead-like? haha). I consider your time-based events evidence of more advanced skills. You even fit the Ghostbusters theme for this year. I wish there was one more ghost, but this is "La Petite Mort" after all. Congrats on a great entry.

Ah darn, but thanks for playing and for your feedback. Can I share the solution? (Spoilers in the rest of this) It's hanging from the faucet in the basement (you need to examine the faucet—my first idea, but in retrospect, not very intuitive!). I should have just put it in the rubble in the entryway or something.

I enjoyed the creativity of the character designs and how the writing managed to convey two different things at once. I'm more used to playing parsers than choice games, and it was somehow satisfying beginning to see the web of pathways.

The submission form lets me choose if it's the more or less than 4 hours category, but are we supposed to indicate the sub-theme somehow too (e.g. Spooky Adventure)? There's a note about "for taxonomy reasons" in the rules, but I'm not sure how to do this officially. I just made a note in the itch game page text. Maybe in future set a standard way to do this and/or put it as a dropdown in the entry form? Or maybe I misread and this doesn't really matter, maybe you are just talking about the 4hr two main categories. But I do like the idea of having these little sub-categories noted, and I'm obsessed with ordering things!

Anyway, thanks, coordinators! Game submitted and I'm so excited to see all the submissions later! =)

"Spooky Adventure" sub-category

Love this! A cute concept and fun gameplay ideas. The frantic music feels so fitting. Well done, especially for a weekend game jam.

Hi, I'm Chris, releasing stuff as Eldritch Renaissance Cake. I do music, game dev, and pixel art as hobbies, particularly in the indie and small games sphere... so bitsy seemed like a logical fit! I just used bitsy for the first time for a game jam last weekend ("Music of the Night" - on my itch page). I'm glad to find this place as a resource to search for answers to questions. And it's cool to read about others here and see what people are making ❤

This is such a helpful tip! So much nicer for my game to not have the dialogue interrupt the music with silence. Thanks for sharing it here. I found this post by searching for "music"!

Nice artwork, and I appreciated the pacifist message <3

I encountered this constantly, on Windows and Firefox. I had to make it work for a game jam last weekend. My solution (workaround) was to regularly refresh the page (F5). I'm not sure if saving before refreshing was important to do, but I saved lots anyway.
Also, maybe a separate issue, but my exits and endings kept going down to 1/1 (there should be several more). Refreshing also resolved this (temporarily).

This was really fun to play! Love the music and creative character/enemy designs.

Thanks, I'm glad you appreciated it =)

Thanks for the kind comment =)

Sorry, I don't check the comments too often. That's right - UP and DOWN for vertical directions. I'm glad you figured it out. In the last updates I tried to edit anything that might get players stuck, but it's hard to account for everything. Thanks for playing =)

v2.2.3 released 2024-04-12 to fix a few little bugs that were discovered and to add a way to see the solutions to finding the achievements (available after finishing the game at least once)

Loved the aesthetic/mood of this game - well done!

I love this creepy aesthetic and the tone, to tell a little story. Definitely see the Eraserhead inspiration. Reminds me of the games by "yames" that got some attention in the indie horror community:
https://pantagruel.itch.io/

This is so satisfying - not just the art and animation, but the sound design too! The little Easter egg was a fun addition to find. Looking forward to playing what's next!

For anyone in the comments - I loved this game so much I did a three part YouTube playthrough and deep dive, including getting into the secrets / bonus content/ wider world references! Spoiler warning especially for Part 3 which covers the secret bonus stuff, but you may want to check it out if you get stuck or if you're curious what you may have missed. Big thanks again to the devs for making such a fun, nostalgic game, with heart and depth to dig into <3

The relaxing parts remind me of that game Fatum Betula. School can be scary, it's true. Loved the music for each of the levels.

Played the incomplete version. Got a gasp out of me, when I went to ctrl alt delete exit after wandering a while and suddenly the creature got me! Looks like some neat concepts.

I've been in an Earl Grey tea phase, so I could totally relate =) A really cute little game, well done with the conversation style and art. I recommend players do a regular play through and avoid the spooky weird ending =o

Hey this really rocks, thanks for providing the OST (and for free)! Really well done GB style soundtrack itself, but then to hear the bonus "real" counterparts is such a cool bonus.

I decided to tidy up the code and share it on GitHub. If you've never used Adventuron, I recommend checking out their tutorials first (very helpful).

This game is so cool! I've never played such a beautiful ASCII art game before. At first it was a little stressful when I messed up, but then it had a definite comforting rhythm. Well done.

Neat game. Having the different perspective in the battling parts adds to the world building. I'm not sure what the skeleton/shrimp things were. The final boss was too difficult for me - I tried three times - but I don't have good coordination for rhythm games. Good work on having different tunes and getting the battling hits to line up with it, and I appreciated the four colour palette artwork.

The art, music, and dialogue are all really well done! I liked the kind of trilling bird-like bit in the music.

Sounds like, from the jam comments, you didn't have time to finish - do you think you will later, or just leave this as is? Anyway, it's nice just to explore, cluck, and kick around a bit.

Neat, it's kind of a memory game I guess. I enjoyed the bouncy spacey music while playing. The catty names were fun.

Highlight for me was the creepy character design - from looking at your art it looks like this is your specialty! Overall though, great work from your whole team: music, dialogue, story, art. I replayed to see if I could get a 2nd ending at the end by not shooting, alas no. In round 2 I was speed running and somehow initiated a bug where I teleported behind the log without the chainsaw, and could not progress - not sure if this is something that can be fixed. Anyway, looking forward to more games from you.

I really liked the mood of this. The art style was unique to me, kind of one-bit, sometimes-tiled, dithered, I guess. Similarly the music had a limited palette and contributed a creepy atmosphere and effective stings. This game absolutely passes the "can you pet the dog (cat)?" test - thank you!
Oh, also I really appreciated the F button customize options!

You've kinda gotta get into a game developer mindset with this one. It's fun to feel so in control of the future. Nice work on the art and the character conversations. Overall feels very authentic to a game boy!

The gothic aesthetic is so satisfying! I appreciated the variety of creative environments and ghosts. And having such an easy lighting control option. The violin sounded pretty good in my opinion! I'm curious if it's a VST instrument and if so which one? Thanks for sharing the music on YouTube too, so we can enjoy it outside of the game.

Every character is unique and has depth, which is pretty amazing with so few words. The art and animations really add to the gameplay and story. The music seemed to be pretty authentic gameboy style, and always felt fitting (I look forward to the full OST release!). I love that when played on mobile, the buttons are provided at the bottom half of the screen - like playing on a real gameboy!
My only wish was for a save feature, since I got half way through on my phone and when I opened the page the next day I had to start over. And it would be nice to go back and try to find a final piece of something I missed. But overall, I loved this and it got some mud on my heart - great job, team!