I had the urge to revisit this gem and I'm thrilled to hear you're still working on the sequel! I'll be looking forward to it no matter when it comes out :)
(Minor bug report - after beating the game, if you start a new game/continue without first exiting the program, the knight's movement speed and the speed of the text will be significantly slowed, leading to everything being desynced e.g. during cutscenes)
I'd love, love, love to play this game, been holding off on watching a let's play for forever, but I have the same issues as others where I get through the intro screen and then it stops responding :( and I even have 12 GB of RAM! I'm guessing my laptop's CPU is too weak or something? This is with both the 32 and 64 bit versions.
edit: worked itself out! If I wait long enough (like, 10-15 min or so) the game loads and runs smoothly. Unfortunately, now I'm dealing with a crash (despite using the 64 bit version) that seems to happen every time I approach the temple across from the marsh tavern, where the audio cues continue as normal but the screen is frozen. Everything else is enthralling! Although just to check, [spoilers] is it intentional that I retain my inventory whenever I quit and come back, even though pickups respawn?
i adored the visual style and effects - it was so satisfying to see my screen fill up with each person's stories. I love the architecture, the varied frames, the color scheme, character design, all of it was wonderful. There were of course some minor bugs, but I don't think there's much point in focusing on those. I also really like the idea of experiencing each perspective as though it were the truth in a future version/sequel, and also of extending the style to an original world.
I do think that having something to cap off the experience - even simply asking the player who they trust the most, or what they think of each character - would make things more impactful. This doesn't need to be phoenix wright; I'm more interested in exploring these characters and why they're choosing to say the things they are. The rain tidbit is neat, but I think in a more expanded version of the game it would be more fun to focus on giving the player tools and space to contrast each person's narrative and look for contradictions or details, since I would never have noticed the rain on my own.
Fantastic concept, though, and I look forward to seeing what you make of it in the future.
This is super entertaining and charming!
I'll echo the commentary that the boats are the weakest pieces for now. Because their region is randomized, they inevitably end up too close to an island to be worth anything. I think they could really benefit from a point boost for being near waves, or a scaling score system like the person below suggested. Everything else is great!
Another comment, now that I've spent an afternoon enthralled: beaches seem *insanely* profitable right now, and I feel like they should be tweaked. It's very easy to get a safe three points per beach by drawing fiddly borders for your islands, and unlike most other high-value pieces (houses, mountains), their value doesn't rely on placing any other kind of piece, which makes them less interesting as something to plan your strategy around. While I like them conceptually, maybe giving them the wave restriction (no being near/sharing same row or column as another beach) would be good?
First things first: the build up of scares was absolutely fantastic. I got goosebumps! The music, visual effects, the graphics, everything was pitch perfect, up until the very end.
(Spoilers)
Maybe this is a little harsh, but in my mind there's nothing worse than a horror game that needs to throroughly explain itself. The dialogue with the developer at the end destroys the tone that was being built up the whole time, because it undermines all the creepiness with incredibly tired horror cliches. I feel like it's much scarier when you don't fully understand what's going on - like did we really need an explanation even for the record player of all things? That said, I totally understand that this is a game jam game and you didn't have the most time to work on it, so I don't want to judge too much; I just really like it when horror games take a more subtle approach.
Played through this demo just now and really enjoyed it. I like the concept, the initial depictions of the world, and the way the prose communicates the physicality of being on a long journey. I love the descriptions and interactions with the peninsula's wildlife and the thought given to how this society operates. I know the music is meant to be temporary but it fits the style of the game quite well. The attitude system is also an interesting concept.
I have a few comments:
-As others have pointed out, there are many, many grammar and spelling errors. However, they don't interfere with comprehension for the most part, so I didn't feel like they were a huge deal at this stage. There was one exception, though: the text minigame prompt being "What are you looking for" and not "What will you look at" or something similar made me think I needed some specific goal or item in mind. The initial answer being "floor" doesn't make sense in that context (the floor is right there, why do I need to look for it?)
-The conversation with the soldiers felt less like a conversation and more like reading several encyclopedia entries. I understand the need to communicate details of the world to the player, but I think they should be spaced apart more and introduced more naturally, especially because I think this world is an interesting place.
-Most of the dialogue choices with the soldiers boiled down to "be an asshole" vs "don't be an asshole", which is never that compelling in video games. I think it'd be more interesting if the conversation was based around the two groups' lack of initial trust in each other, which they could then develop... or not. As is, there didn't seem to be a reason for me to ever not be polite.
Something made me think about this game just recently, so I picked it up and reminded myself of how much I love it. I really can't put the experience into words - i feel like i can taste the musty air, smell the rotten iron, and feel the pain of all the imprisoned beings. Every time I play it something makes me jump or recoil, but the overall texture is so soothing and melancholy and lonely. I'll be waiting for the sequel with baited breath.
It was fun to notice that a few things here and there had been updated, but i also came across a few odd things that I figured I should mention:
-I've had a distressing audio bug multiple times where the sound of the knight's footfalls just cuts out completely. It occasionally happens as soon as you gain control, and very reliably happens if you draw your sword. No other sounds are affected, and transitioning to a new area seems to fix it.
-The delay between sword swings feels waaaaaaay longer than it used to be. Maybe this is a design choice, but it makes combat feel clunkier because you can't smoothly slide between attacks the way you could before. It also looks weird, since there's a stretch of time where the knight isn't visibly recoiling but nevertheless refuses to strike.
-Is the second hand in the rain sequence meant to not attack you? It just sits there now. Staring. As much as hands can stare, I suppose. (Also, I noticed you can't see the hands' bodies anymore, which is a shame imo.)
-The control prompts don't respond correctly to whether you're using a mouse or a controller. For example, the one at the end of the boss fight says "right trigger to slash through" even on keyboard, and on controller some of the interact prompts still say "x".
So...as excited as I am for this shindig...Real Life has dictated that I might not have access to Game Maker until at least Tuesday...and maybe not even until...next week... :( :( :(
BUT! NEXT WEEK!!! i will be working FULL STEAM AHEAD on this thing! In the mean time, I will try to update this devlog with puzzle designs on paper and other stuff, mostly to make sure I'm being productive.
SWEET'N'SALTY:
-STORY: I have lots of ideas for this, but, those can wait until after this game jelly. Right now, I want to focus on
-GAMEPLAY: The MUNCHING MOUTHS are chomping at the bit to get their snack on! Can you guide our tasty travellers SWEET and SALTY through the devious smart-people-only puzzles of the MORSEL MAZES to their designated deathtraps? It's trickier than it sounds: they're so chummy, they move in sync! If SWEET moves left, SALTY moves left; if SALTY goes up, SWEET goes up. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!! If one morsel has a wall up ahead and the other doesn't, the first will bonk its head and stay put, while the second will continue on its merry way. AND THERE'S MORE!!! If one morsel has a TRASH TILE in its path, it'll get all icked out, and nobody will move! SIMPLE!
I... really promise it'll make intuitive sense. Once you get to play it.
BONUS! That's all I want to get done for sure in two weeks (it's my first game ever, after all) but if I have time, I will add FEATURES?! such as:
-STICKY KEYS: open STICKY LOCKS. Can only be used by the morsel that picked them up.
-BOUNCY BUBBLE GUM: launches the morsel that stepped on it to somewhere else in the level.
-SLIP'N'SLIDES: if one morsel steps on it, they both go zooming off in one direction.
-PEER PRESSURE PLATES: opens doors for you...if you stay on it! otherwise we'll all hate you
-MUSIC AND GRAPHIC: I plan on them being 100% FARM FRESH LOCALLY GROWN PLACEHOLDER!!!! because I suck at art and composing. Although I might use my FRIENDSHIP POWER to get a friend to do them! Or my FRIENDSHIP BRIBES! Or my FRIENDSHIP THREATS
That's all for... Days 1 and 2 I guess???? I'll see if I can upload some level concepts tomorrow.
Thank you for hosting this thing! I'm super glad I stumbled on it, since I've been having ideas for games since I was, like, six but I've never acted on them. Goals:
-Design all of the basic objects the puzzles need to work (players, walls, goals)
-Make a level or two using just those things.
-Add some more complicated stuff (spikes, warps, conveyor belts????, keys/doors????)
-Basically just see what I can accomplish in two weeks! It's definitely not going to be ~finished~, since this is my first real project.
