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Thank you so much for your kind words and detailed feedback! These are all great suggestions, and I'll look into them for future updates, and hopefully an expanded release with more missions. And I plan to be back again for next year's jam, too!

Thank you so much for playing! The secret objective was broken by a last-minute change, but it's fixed now. It's a very simple one, but I have ideas for other secrets I may add later. :D

I loved the concept and themes of community, healing, and nature. And the voice acting is so soothing, I could listen to it all day.

I wish the A and D keys strafed instead of turning. That would have helped me judge position and distance of the raindrops, based on how much the left/right balance of the sounds changed when I moved.

More audio feedback when you are at the edge of the level would be helpful, too. There is a sound that plays when you approach a "wall", but no more feedback after that if you are still walking into the wall. I spent at least a minute walking into a corner without realizing it, until I opened my eyes. More rustling sounds while walking along the wall would have helped.

Overall, it's a great concept, but I wonder if the gameplay would work better as something other than a first-person game.

Very interesting story, and the music is amazing, very well done! The subtle sound effects were perfect to enhance the mood, too.

For accessibility, the main thing missing is an option to adjust the speech rate. I'm not sure if that is possible in Ren'Py, but if so it would be appreciated. I am sighted, but I know many blind players are used to very fast TTS, and it can be frustrating to wait for slower TTS to finish. Even if you get a voice actor for the full release, a playback speed option would be good, for example I often listen to audiobooks at 1.25x speed.

I've followed you on itch and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next in the story. Nice job!

The first time I played, I had to quit after a few minutes because the sounds were very uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it's a bug, but the white noise started very loud, so much that I could barely hear the narrator of the gear exhibit. The high pitched sound when a wall is in front of you was also very uncomfortable and aggravated my tinnitus. I think rather than varying the frequency of the sound, you could choose some compatible pitches (a musical chord) and only vary the volume. This would also fit well with the other musical game mechanics.

But, I turned down all those sounds and gave it another try, and I'm glad I did. The musical navigation system of rising and falling notes is brilliant. The robot sounds are very well implemented and do a good job of communicating their position and state. And the narration of some exhibits are pretty amusing if you stop and listen.

The musical hacking game is okay, but I was very confused the first time. I thought I must have been caught in some kind of trap because I couldn't move, but after reading the README again I realized what was going on. I think the 3 by 3 grid is a bit too complex to navigate, remembering where in the grid you are while also trying to remember the tune. Maybe just 5 notes would be more manageable, so you could press the button while holding up, left, down, right, or no direction (center), without remembering grid position.

Overall, very well done, with just a few bugs and issues to work out. Nice work!

I really liked the concept and the atmosphere! The story was very touching and sad at moments. But, the dialogue often ruined the mood for me, especially the childish insults and arguments between Dr. Charon and Hades. It's possible for a story to mix humor with seriousness, but it requires more subtlety and care.

If you plan to keep working on the game, I think the biggest area to focus on is accessibility. Like other people reported, neither the browser version nor the Windows version worked with NVDA, so many blind players would not be able to enjoy the game. I did not get a chance to test with JAWS, and I did not test the ping feature, so I can't comment on those.

The second thing I'd work on is adding more complexity and variety to the quests. Right now they all feel the same, everything is waiting for you in the garden every time, and you don't even need to remember or think about which ingredients to use. Maybe you need to go to the forest to find some ingredients, or solve a puzzle or trade with someone to learn a recipe, or experiment to find the right combination of ingredients, or have Cooking Mama-style minigames for brewing the potions.

This game concept has a lot of potential, and with some more work it could be a really interesting and heartfelt game!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I do plan keep working on the game and add more missions, and try to make the gameplay more inclusive. It's possible to complete the game without vision by using the targeting mechanism, but it's not as fun or interesting for blind players as for sighted players, which I regret and hope to improve in the future.

Thanks for playing, and for the feedback!

The writing, voice acting, and audio design are great, they really set the atmosphere and pulled me into the story! The gameplay is not as interesting and well-developed as the other aspects, but I know in a game jam you have to stay simple to finish in time. Hopefully after the jam you can add more variety and complexity to the quests, and more opportunity to use the instruments to solve puzzles or challenge mini-bosses. Overall very well done, and kudos for using real voice actors!

By the way, the gamepad controls mostly worked for me in the browser, using Firefox on Windows with a Logitech F310 gamepad. The only things that didn't work were the LT and RT controls, nothing happened when I pressed them, so I had to use the keyboard to play instruments 3 and 4. (Update: The LT and RT controls worked correctly with the Windows download.) It's not a big deal, I only mention it in case it helps you debug. :)

Very interesting atmosphere and storytelling! The audio design is very effective at setting the mood. I only had time to catch a couple fishes, but the game captured my curiosity and I think I'll play again when I have more time. I feel like there is a lot more story lurking below the surface, waiting for me to come closer...! 😱

Very cute concept and sound effects! I liked that it avoided horror cliches, yet it still felt tense and engrossing because I really didn't want to disturb the poor tired doggies. You have to move slowly and listen, so I really felt like I was walking around on tiptoes.

I tried playing on my phone, and I really like the mechanic of sliding your finger around, but even going extremely slowly, sometimes it was just a tiny distance between hearing nothing, and waking up a dog. Maybe that's unavoidable on a small screen, but if there was some way to make it work it would be a fun and novel way of interacting with a game. Using a keyboard or controller was less frustrating, but not quite as fun.

Anyway, great job on this! I really enjoyed it!

The voice acting, sound effects, and childlike art style are so great! Simple, but very effective at setting the mood. I especially liked the funny sound when you catch an electric eel! :)

Maybe it's just me, but I had some difficulty telling which direction the seagulls are, even with headphones. Maybe the volume difference of left/right channels could be exaggerated more?

I encountered a bug on the second day, where Mariana sailed off the right side of the screen. On my first playthrough I caught enough fish and heard the voice lines saying to return home, but I started moving right instead. If I pressed left I stopped moving, and when I let go I started moving right again. On my second playthrough it happened after my third fish. So unfortunately I was not able to finish the game because Mariana has decided to sail around the world. Good thing she is such an experienced sailor and fisher! :D

I really like the concept and the pixel art! Nice work!

If you continue working on the game, the top 3 things I would suggest focusing on are:

1. The TTS lag and backlog issues other reviewers mentioned. This is a showstopper for blind players. One idea  to help address this is to reduce the amount of TTS needed, by using sound effects to communicate different disasters, crew dying, etc. Lo-fi sound effects like with bfxr would fit the pixel art theme perfectly.
2. Better explanation of the gameplay. I never fully understood what was going on. E.g. what does each part of the ship do? Can I avoid bad events / lessen their impact? Why should I assign more or less crew to each part of the ship? Are the crew dying from disasters or old age? Etc. It doesn't need to be an in-game tutorial, even adding some more explanation on the game page or README would be a big help.
3. Reducing UI friction. Navigating the UI is central to the gameplay, so it's worth making it flow quickly and naturally. For example, when I open Cryo, it's probably because I want to awaken people and assign them to the tab I have open, right? So there's probably no need to make the player select an assignment on the Cryo screen. Another easy improvement would be hotkeys for selecting the different tabs and for opening Cryo; that would also reduce the need to use TTS to say which tab is selected. There are lots of little ways the UI could be streamlined like that.

Even if the game isn't perfect, the effort and care you put into it really shows! And congratulations on making a complete game that can be played from beginning to end! :D

I like the setting and theme, and the audio design is very interesting and atmospheric, nice job with that!

Some friendly feedback about the gameplay: Unfortunately, I found it confusing and disorienting, even after reading the instructions. It's not obvious what a lifeform sounds like, so I spent several minutes trying to capture the nearest sound, and quit the game in frustration thinking there was a bug. I tried playing again later and eventually realized that I had been trying to capture the delivery base, oops!

Even after I figured out that the chirps indicated the direction of lifeforms, I had trouble getting close enough to capture them. And sometimes I would run into something, and the distorted voice would keep saying something I couldn't understand, with multiple voices on top of each other. I think maybe I was repeatedly bumping into some outer wall and causing the voice to spam? I was unable to finish the game because the experience was just too disorienting and overwhelming.

If you are planning to keep working on the game, I would suggest focusing on:

• Making the voice clearer, which I see you already know. Not only less distorted, but speaking at a normal rate, rhythm, and pitch, not so slow and monotone.
• Balancing the volume of the various sounds, especially making the voice and lifeforms (not the chirps) relatively louder, and the ambient sounds relatively quieter. Right now it's hard to hear the voice, and the unimportant sounds are distracting and overwhelming. Volume options would be a nice bonus.
• Making the lifeform beeps longer and gentler, more like a "buuooinnnng" than a bird chirp. Being surrounded by so many sharp sounds is stressful, and the sounds don't last long enough to aim at them.
• Adding better indication of direction and proximity. It's hard to navigate just based on stereo sound, even with headphones. For example it would help a lot to have a sound when you are pointed at a life form, and another when you are getting close. Maybe some sort of "vacuum" to suck up the lifeform when you are close, even if it is to the side or behind you. Also, after you catch a lifeform, turning off the other lifeform chirps and instead having navigation sounds to guide you back to the delivery base.

Despite those issues, it's a cool idea with lots of potential. Kudos!

For me, this was the overall highlight of the Games for Blind Gamers 2 jam. I love music toys, and this is one of the best I've played. The audio design and visual design are each solid on their own, so the experience can be enjoyed by either blind or deaf players. And for players who are both sighted and hearing, the visuals enhance the experience of the audio without stealing attention. The mysteriousness of the controls encourages experimentation at first, and once you learn what each control does you can perform with more intentionality.

The only controls I don't love are the A/B/X/Y buttons. With all the other controls you can just jam with no worries, they might be somewhat random but everything will sound good no matter what. But A/B/X/Y are unpredictable and potentially discordant/jarring, and they have a huge impact on the sound so you will definitely notice. I didn't feel like I could be intentional with them, because I might get unlucky and play a "bad" note that changes the vibe in a way I didn't want. I ended up shying away from them, which is too bad because the visual effects they make are absolutely gorgeous.

The A/B/X/Y controls are primary/special, so whereas it's great that the other controls are always pleasant in any combination, I wouldn't suggest that for A/B/X/Y. I'd instead just make them more predictable, for example each button always has the same effect, or varies in a predictable way based on other controls being used. That would allow players to discover and repeat interesting combinations and progressions, without limiting them to just pleasant vibes.

Even with that one critique, this is a fantastic and very impressive creation, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Short but nice. I loved the voice acting and writing, it was hilarious. :D

I had a hard time getting past being a blender, I couldn't hear any other objects around to jump to. I could hear the music, and maybe a faint beeping sometimes, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from or if it was important. I kept clicking around randomly and eventually jumped to the refrigerator, and after that I got through the game easily. I didn't feel like I was making choices or solving puzzles, though. In fact most of the time I didn't even realize I was being presented with a puzzle at all, I would accidentally jump to the next appliance when I was just trying to hear what funny thing the characters would say next.

A minor thing is it would be good to make the voices louder relative to the sound effects. Especially with the blender, it was so loud I couldn't hear the start of many of the lines.

Other than those issues, it's a very funny and unusual little game. Good job!

This was a lovely, quiet little story. All my critiques have already been said by others, so I just want to add some words of appreciation. Nice work!

This game is lovely, thank you for creating and sharing it. The voice acting is superb, the story is very moving, and the soundscape is so lush. I mostly played with my eyes closed, but the character design and visual style are also very nice. I especially love the design of the winged rabbit companion and the other little creatures.

My main critiques are the UI not being keyboard friendly, and getting stuck on obstacles and slopes in the world, both of which other people already mentioned. Another suggestion is that it would be helpful if the companion made a sound while it is moving, not only while it is stationary. If you are playing without sight, you have to walk a little bit, stop and wait to hear the companion, walk a little bit more, and so on, which gets a little annoying. Also, sometimes the companion gets in a loop where it moves back and forth without ever stopping, so it never makes a sound to guide you.

I like that you have a sound when a cut scene ends, that is very helpful. It would be good to have a sound when a cut scene begins, too. Some of the cut scenes don't have any dialogue for several seconds, and I couldn't tell why I suddenly seemed to have stopped moving.

It's awesome that you thought of adding accessibility options for color blindness. But, the options you added will not actually help color blind players. This is a common misunderstanding, and a pet peeve of mine, so forgive me for giving a little lecture. :) The filters you added do not compensate for color blindness, they simulate it. They were created so that people with full color vision can check that their designs are accessible. Players with deuteranopia, etc. will not see any difference when using the filter for their condition. There are some filters that can help make similar colors look different, but they are not good for most games because they make all the colors in the game look weird. It's better to add options to change only the appearance of the things that look too similar. But, this game doesn't need a color blind mode anyway, because it doesn't rely on color to convey information.

Anyway, I loved this game, I only write so much because I hope you keep improving it. Very nice work, you should be proud of what you created! :)

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And thank you for the feedback, that's a great suggestion!

Thanks for playing the game, and for your great and detailed feedback! These are all great suggestions, and I'll be sure to include them in future versions!

I like how the sound effects are silly and very distinct. It makes me think of someone running around, slamming doors and startling animals. Adding some sort of story or setting would help make the game more interesting. The gameplay is classic but I would have liked to see some new twist on the idea. I also found the voice rather annoying, he is quite long-winded and repetitive. The game doesn't need so much explanation and live commentary, let's get to the action already! :)

This is a neat little experiment, I've never played a game like it before. I enjoyed trying different combinations and seeing what story it would tell.

I love the writing, it is very evocative and sparked my imagination!

It took me a little while to figure out the interface. I tried just pressing the number keys on my keyboard, before realizing I need to focus on the text input box and type in numbers like a command prompt. It was smooth sailing after that.

Nice work, I'm looking forward to future updates so I can find out more about the mysterious world and events in the story!

I'm glad you enjoyed the game! Thanks for playing, and thanks for the great feedback! I am planning to add a way to practice first before transmitting your answer, and also a metronome option to help with rhythm puzzles. I had to leave those features out to get the game done on time. :)

Thank you, and please thank your friend on my behalf, for trying out the game and providing this great feedback! I have some ideas to make it fun even for people who have trouble hearing the tone differences. Having a variety of realistic instrument sounds to choose from is a great idea too, I will try to include that in a future version.

I am the author of the SDL2 bindings for CHICKEN Scheme. Like I did with the January jam, I will be making a game as an example for how to use the library. I will be making a scrolling space shoot-em-up game. The gameplay will probably be quite simple, but with lots of enemies and bullets on screen so I can test the performance of the library.

I am posting progress updates on my blog once or twice a day. Right now I am working on collision detection and resolution.

Here is my latest screenshot, since everyone loves pictures:

P.S. Source code is published here as I go, in case anyone wants to play along.

I am creating a local multiplayer platformer game, where the players scramble to collect coins and gems that randomly appear throughout the level. It is inspired by the old Super Mario Bros Battle Mode, but with more emphasis on moving fast to collect lots of treasure, not trying to make the other player die. If I have enough time, players will be able to bump into each other, throw items, and trigger trap walls and platforms to try to slow down the other players. If I don't have time for all that, it will simply be a race to see which player can navigate the level fastest. I am going to try to make 2 or 3 levels, and have a simple text-based level format so other people can create their own custom levels.

Here is a mockup I made with the sprites I am using (from Kenney Game Assets), just to give a taste of what it will be like:

As I mentioned in the Introductions thread, I am using CHICKEN Scheme and the SDL2 bindings that I have been developing. Also, I am writing about the jam on my blog, one or two posts per day as I make progress.

Hello! My name is John Croisant. I live in Illinois, USA. I am the maintainer of the CHICKEN Scheme bindings for SDL2. I have participated in a few game jams in the past using Python and Ruby, but this will be my first jam using a Lisp dialect. :)

I will be using this jam as a reason to create another example game for the bindings. I will also try to hang out in the IRC channel (my handle is "jacius") during the jam in case people have questions about using the bindings, CHICKEN Scheme, or SDL in general.