itch.io

Thanks a whole lot for answering.

1. Hmm, would you consider using a custom-made tool like is being used for SnappyMail and Tarock Palcka ? That would greatly help: you wouldn’t miss any string, will always have the original on the same screen as your own, and produces readly available translation files.

2. As i said: the easiest way to support any type of colourblindness would be to have every colour have a different light value compared to the others. An easy way to check the contrast between all your colours (and put yourself into the shoes of a VERY colourblind person) is to turn screenshots of your game into levels of grey (or as is commonly said, black & white). Then, tweak the colours of your game so that each and every one of them look different when looked in black and white.

3. Good to know 👍 definitely not top-priority thing !

Anyway i’m looking forward to further updates ! Thank you for your time :)

Hello !

I downloaded Translines from Flathub and had a blast with it ! Congratulations on making this game. This message here is because i have questions and suggestions related to it, but couldn’t send a message to your adress @centrum.cz… my own adress @free.fr was refused. Strange ! Anyway, my suggestions and questions :

1. How do you translate the game ? there already is a french translation that i use but it’s only partial.
2. What are the controls exactly ? i was trying to find a way to zoom in and out of the game, also trying to remove stations of a specific colour, and i sometimes had a very hard time. Maybe you should add a controls page that show how to control the game.
3. I am colourblind and was not always able to differentiate between the red and green lines. If the green line was lighter than red but stll darker than yellow, that would help a whole lot !
4. Have you ever considered porting the game to Android ? it would translate really well i think and you’d have tons of potential new players.

Thanks a lot for this game. Greetings from France, have a nice day !

could we get a linux build pls ? it's aonly a button away in the engine :3

Sounds intersting! i'll chick the results probably.

i'll be honest, i won't be using it. but thanks for including 32bit versions of your tool 🤝

there aren't many who think of 32bit machines anymore.

Yes.

Wn the other hand there are still 7 years left in the jam. Most jams don't even last 7 days, so don't worry ;)

No, not impolite at all, don't worry.

I wouldn't say i only played 30 minutes, i think i played for an hour or so. Or maybe it just *felt* longer, idk. But i didn't get neither the jump or run power-ups as you thought, yeah. See, i might be the one being impolite for not having played so much of your game !

I can understand building your game so that evey upgrade feels deserved and empowering, but i still think the movement without these two upgrades i'm supposed to get later is too hard to master, too tight. At least for me. What made me let quit the game on my first playthrough was when i was getting the pieces of Heart after having climbed down from the vines in the sky, not so long after getting that ability. The level-design made it look like i had to get all the heart pieces, which led me into what seemed like 20 more minutes of play without those jump and run power-ups i was expecting impatiently. I didn't want to get through another 20 minutes of slow progression through small gauntlets.
Don't get me wrong, having no jump in a platformer is very interesteing and i can see you tried (successfully) to provide interesting situations without the ability to jump. But that jump is such a basic ability nowadays, i felt so incapacitated comapred to other games, and the narrative didn't provide any hint as to when or even *if* i would even get that ability... all of that tried my luck a bit too far that evening. And i can see a good portion of others get impatient too.
Maybe if i had some other active ability to compensate for that... the climbing ability was a good idea ! but not really creative, as you can only climb on pre-set vines...

ok ok i'm getting too far.

I'll stop writing my thoughts now because clearly i haven't gone too far into the game for now. I did want to give it another go, play through another session to see where i could get too and if i could find more enjoyment in the following levels. So I'll get back to you when i have more time with your game ;)

Heyo, i just tried this game on the computer i told you. It works very well ! It slows down in bigger areas but that's entirely my computer's fault.

This is a work of love and it shows. Everything is very intentional and from the very second you start the game, you know what you're getting into. I've got a Windows XP 2000 indie game vibe. Both in a good, and in a bad way.

The games created back then were from passionate developers doing their thing in their own corner and sharing their work with the world when they wanted to. That's waht you're doing too. I can see myself spending some time in this world you crafted, vibing to the fantastic music -it is fantastic!- and letting my eyes wander onto your lovingly crafted sprites. Keep doing your thing, you're doing it wonderfully! All in all, my short experience so far was that of an "hommage" to an area of older platformers which were more demanding of the player's time and skills.

One thing i didn't think would be of so much importance to me is the difficulty: your game is challenging, in many places even frustrating. The controls, ennemy and platform placement don't allow for much maneuvering and if you don't jump on that bird at its very peak altitude, you won't get further and fall to your death, instantly punished. This wouldn't be such a problem if, say, the screen was a little more zoomed in and i could see the pixels i am supposed to be bouncing off of, or if i could recover easily in the earlier levels. I don't mind a little challenge, but i felt most of the platforming was tedious precision jumping that made me squint at the screen, rather than enjoy the challenges i was put through. The jump/bounce/falling curve is really odd to me as i was expecting it to carry the momentum from going left to right but it seems to stop and slowly accelerate when you press the direction key, which makes most of the jumps unnatural, to me at least.

The way Bobo is controlled in your game -unfortunately, for me- is very "dated". The characters isn't very reactive, moves slowly, and jumps awkwardly. Combined with unforgiving platforming, it makes for tedious challenges that require discipline and precision, and that is not easy to enjoy for its own sake. In a way, this forces you to be fully focused onto the game, because you don't instantly get how to master Bobo right away.

Now, i think i'm trying to be critical of the mechanics of your game, but this is not what really matters here i feel, is it? I like your game, and i like that you're making it. I can enjoy the world you built and appreciate the time you put into it. In the end, i just don't think this is a game for me.

It is not as old as it s deprecated. It's a 32bit Wondows 8 Tablet-PC so yeah :S
I won't be able to test it out soon, but i'll definitely tell you whne i do

If my computer handles it i'll try to give it a shot ;)

Official statement from co-host Avis ;)

Join us on the Discord ! we're very much unproductive gamejam-wise but we all know we'll be working on this on the last month of 2029 sooooooo. https://discord.gg/PM5kRC3

Neat idea, fantastic mock-up.
I'd say, if we could go as far as to pick any of the specificities of our games and show them independantly to give them more visibility, that would be great.

Hey, i couldn't play this in my browser for whatever reason, so i proceeded to download the game... but unfortunately, my computer works on Windows 32bit and the version you provided wouldn't even start for me :(

Would you care uploading a version playable on 32bit devices ?

Hihello,

I came to discuss a particular issue regarding the side menu UI on game pages, but i realize there's a lot more to talk about.

I've been part of the Decade Jam community since it's begining (almost 3 years now) and many of our submissions happen to be part of multiple other jams on top of ours, which tends to greatly lengthen the size of that side menu. Here is my feedback on the matter, and suggestions to improve it.

1. It needlessly clutters the page.
   

This menu can't be hidden or relocated unless you have full access to the CSS page editor (which so little of us have since it's on demand...). So any lambda creator is going to have to deal with a permanent hovering menu above their game, whether they want their game to be evaluated or not, whether they want to show off the jams they participated in or not. Depending on the game's page presentation, it can even hide some text behind the buttons.

1. It draws your attention away from the pages content.
   
   The example here is quite extreme because it's taken from among alienmelon's games (which pages are notably, let's say, colourful) but it speaks to see in how many of their game pages this menu is either hidden, manually tucked to the side as to not bother us, or paradoxically thrown in face (like the above screenshot shows).
   Some creators try really hard to create a beautiful landing page for their game, coherent with their game's universe and presentation. This uneditable and intrusive menu prevents from providing a coherent and easy to navigate game page.
2. In some cases, it actively deteriorate the gaming experience.
   
   In the above example, the game is playable directly in the browser, and the side menu text is layered above the game window... missclicks are plenty, and sometimes lead the player to lose their progress by being redirected to another page. This shouldn't happen.

Are there any solutions ?

YES.

1. By default, either prevent a game page's text to ever reach behind the buttons, or prevent the buttons size to ever reach the game page content. At least it won't superimpose over other content on the page. Take notes from bandcamp's side menu for example:
   
   It's got a button for subscribing to the artist, a quick access to the last items in their discography.... But it's neatly tucked into its own box that never ever gets over the rest of the content.
2. Allow creators to entirely hide this menu, or some of its buttons.
3. Relocate the options in the side menu as fixed buttons, somewhere in the body of the page: at the end of the game's description, before or after the download button, after the title, or in the top bar even... there are lots of places in which these button would be more welcomed.
4. If you were to keep the side menu scrolling with the page, please provide less intrusive buttons by reducing the amont of text, making them easily customizable, and grouping all jam submission buttons into one that list all jam entered in a pop-up menu like it does for when reviewing the game or adding to a collection.
   Here's a mock-up:
   
   Again but this time with 60% transparency:
   
   Here, see ? in the bottom right corner ? Yeah, it doesn't jump right to the reader's eyes, but that's exactly the point. Don't worry, once they start scrolling they'll see this collection of boxes doesn't move, and their attention will naturally be drawn to it. This page i took as an example is for a popular game, but its looks are that of many other pages on itch.io, and this change in the UI would give a much better vibe by default to a great many game pages i think.

These were my thoughts on this side-menu buttons. I hope this insight was helpful and that you'll consider the options i gave you.

Oh if you wait a few days you'll have a newer version that'll be a lot more interesting (i hope)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with your game, however short it was. It was beautifuly made, with heart and intention. Everything looked slick and finished, and that Demo label is a bit of an understatement for the state in which your game is right now ^^ probably you want to add more content next ? idk.

(more specifically, the 32bit Windows version without a hassle, even on my old and slow laptop)

Here is a list of things i noted and might need some adjustments:

• it was unclear wether the game was charging or stuck when istarted the game. if you intend to include loading screens, consider having a loading icon (eg: a rotating arrow), or include something that confirms the game started and is now playing before your eyes.
• as i read the introductory text, i sometimes wanted to see the next paragraph sooner and tried using enter or the spacebar. could you allow to skip to the next paragraph when we want to ?
• in the menu, there wasn't any sound or music playing, and since your game havily relies on it, i was worried the sound didn't work. maybe include a sound test button in the options, or make the buttons make a sound when you push them.
• have the controls being shown to you before the start of the game. i didn't know i had a map or that i had a "use" button before i went looking into the options.
• the controls are exclusively made for QWERTY keyboards. i know this can get very tiresome to add but if you could allow for custom inputs or include other keayboard layouts that would be great!
• i feel the map and the flower picture have a bit of a double use, or don't interact well with each other. most of the times i wanted to look at the flower and move at the same time. but i couldn't see the little wall drawings, or droplets of water etc... most importantly i couldn't have seen the letter if i hadn't looked at the map. i see the map as a visual tool for the ear-impared, a beautiful worked-on tool, but i'm not sure it is essential. i'm uite certain you could include most of the map's features into the picture's view, behind the frame.

That's it for my feedback, hope i am of some help :)

A wonderful experience. I'm looking forward to seeing what you make next :)

J'ai enfin pris le temps de faire cette démo. Le jeu est simple à la compréhension, clair comme il faut, mais je crois que la démo ne permet pas de se faire un avis sur les mécaniques du jeu. Comme il semble que tu t'inspires des livres-dont-vous-êtes-le-héros, l'équilibrage fera beaucoup dans l'appréciation de l'histoire et de la progression. D'ailleurs, j'ai gardé mes bottes et j'ai tué un mort-vivant, j'espère ça me donne droit à un bonus dans la version complète :p

La présentation en tous les cas est irréprochable pour un prototype!

i may not be writing History, but i am writing my own, and it feels good.

both: i've submitted games, am watching the event unfold (from the inside, we have a rather active discord server for the decade jam), AND as a side note i'm in the process of getting two board games into the hands of a publisher this summer!

Très bon document, clair et concis ! Des conseils de base pour tous ceux qui ne savent pas comment s'y prendre, c'est très bien.
Perso j'ai rien appris de neuf, je crois que je connais assez bien les bases :p j'aimerais pouvoir trouver (ou proposer si ça existe pas) quelque chose de plus exhaustif un jour qui puisse proposer des tournures de phrases-type neutres pour remplacer les tournures classiques genrées. Pour économiser du temps à l'écriture !

tu pourrais remplacer le fichier principal par celui-ci ? pour que les gens qui viennent sur ta page téléchargent direct le document le plus complet, sans avoir à le chercher en bas de la page :)

You won't have a faster answer from anyone if you say the same thing several times in a row on the same forum on the same day.

Haha, it's rather the other way around: Broforce most certainly inspired didigameboy to make their own sprites based off of that game !

🥳🎉 !!

Works wonders in my browser! but the .exe doesn't work on my computer: it is made for 64bit architectures, and mine is only 32bit.

I didn't understand that the left card always makes you go left, and the right card only makes you go right. Maybe you should clarify that.

The action is a lot more readable compared to the last version thanks to the icons above the characters and the lowered speed at which they attack. But because the icons for your last action only appear the next turn, i would think at first that the icons were representing the action that i'd be performing this next turn ! Maybe only show the icons WHEN the characters move and WHEN the action is performed, but make them disapear after that. Like for example, make the shield glow around the character when it moves and make it disapear after that.

Also, if you put yourself against the wall and continue choosing the card that goes towards that wall, the AI can have somehow has a hard time attacking you sometimes, and will stay in place, neither going backwards or onwards.

I didn't understand why sometimes i'd go through the enemy without hitting them. I had either a wild boar attack or a simple attack on, and they didn't have a shield on, so why didn't they get hurt ?

wow fantastic! i'll gladly help you with testing the game if you'd like !

Maybe ask the developers directly for the zipfile, explaining your case ?

Heyo,

Mitch seems to forget which page i was browsing if i decide to switch to the desktop or another app. Especially sad when i'm browsing the 37th page of an obscure jam which i dont remember the name of.

Even more strange is that today i reopened Mitch to browse some more, i changed focus to another app, and vhen i came back tw Mitch it didn't remember the page i was just browsing, but instead brought me back to a page i was browsing *yesterday*. How is that possible 😵

Thanks for the work you've already done on Mitch ! and thanks for your time

too bad. thanks for thc answer !

The combat felt very random to me, as i couldn't guess what the opponent's cards might be. Also the arenas were way too big, often times the battles would drag for a bit too long i feel.

Interesting gameplay ! When i shoot at the 1 in the menu it doesn't load anything is that normal ? also i'm stuck and cannot play anymore. Same when shoot the X, i need to restart the game.

Very hard game too ! but i'd love to see it polished and published on the app store :)

Hey so i tried to play your game on Android but the visuals don't fit on my screen. I think half of the visuals are off-screen, at least!

i wanted my cherished trees to live ! i should have taken a picture of my endgame

1 million points ! i'm stopping there :)

is this your first submission to the decade jam ?

well, good for them i guess  🤷

Fantastique, magnifique. J'écoutais la musique de Naturalchimie et me demandais ce que tu étais devenu. Dès que j'ai un moment devant moi je regarde un peu ta démo !

You can't vote for games in this jam for now, the voting time will begin when the jam submission deadline ends.
Which will be in 2030 👀

Alright, i don't have experience in uploading different builds of my game on here, so i just assumed from one of the topic i linked :)

But my point still stands: the uploaded builds are not *tagged* as working on a 32bit or 64bit architecture.
Here an example:

Here you have a bunch of different builds, named by the developers as working for windows, mac or linux... but as you can, the 32bit and 64bit architectures are not differentiated by a little badge like OS are. Allowing this tag would be especially useful for indie games with a single build (which are legion here) which are most of the time just named after the game itself.

Another example here:

See ? as a gamer i cannot know if this game will work on my 32bit architecture.

If itch.io adds a tag for 32bit or 64bit games, it will at least raise attention to the devs that this difference exists, because right now i bet most don't know this is a crucial difference.

There are external tools which work well as poll tools, an integrated poll tool isn't necessary imo. Unless you really want to ensure that people answering your poll are itchio users, but i don't see easily when that could be useful... 🤔