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I think the fact that you're very conscious of that balance you're trying to strike dramatically improves the chance that it will land in a place that is both fun and enlightening. And I think it's very noble to share the value you have gained from your study and education through a medium of entertainment, so more power to you!

Aw, nice of you to give Engulfed a chance! That was from a 10-day jam a few weeks back, and I think our team was pretty pleased with the cute/silly vibe (but maybe repentant about the seagull cruelty, because the coder and I independently joined this jam immediately afterward 😂). Thanks for your thorough responses here and on our page—I really appreciate the way you think, and can't wait for your entry!

Fantastic point about going beyond public opinion, since the public don't hold the capital or political sway needed to transform corrupt systems.

Maybe we can focus on scandals or outrage that would lead to a sea change toward votes for a historically disempowered political party? Or an event with enough public impact and relevance that it leads to widespread public demonstration, demanding at least moderate legislative response? Raising awareness of and funds for grassroots direct action groups? We'll have to think about that further as we develop the project. Thanks for challenging our thinking here, I'm sure it will help us make a more nuanced argument with the game! :)

I love the concept—it's very visceral in its emotional impact, and sounds achievable in the length of the jam. Hope development goes well, and looking forward to playing it again in a few weeks! :)

Sounds like a fun, light-hearted interpretation of the theme. A platformer sounds very reasonable to complete in the length of the jam. Hope you have a great time making it! :)

It looks like you're developing toward something cool here! I think a JRPG-style battle system should be doable within the timeframe of the jam, so that seems like a good choice. Let me know if you'd like to exchange feedback on pixel art, since I'll be using that for my project as well!

Sounds like your ideas are still pretty broad at this stage, but I wish you the best as you narrow in on a specific story and style! Looking forward to giving it a try a few weeks down the road :)

Hey Flavedo and co., this game is looking awesome! We took it in a different direction, but we're also using a hex-based grid, so I loved looking over your mood board and reference games (you might check ours out to see if anything there could help—dorf romantik, cross blitz, etc.)

I like that the game acknowledges that there are still profit motives at play in the world, even when trying our best to be environmentally friendly. I think that adds a nice amount of complexity and realism to the plan.

I'm really excited to play this one! I'm especially interested in the alternate endings you describe, like not telling the player the consequences of their actions until the end, then showing them how sustainable or unsustainable their practices prove to be in the long term. Thanks for submitting, and best of luck with the jam! :)

I love the idea of a "deckbuilding" city sim instead of an expansionist framework. I think that's hitting all the right notes of getting players to reconsider which societal practices can continue in a greener world, which must be heavily modified, and which must be abandoned altogether. Your timeline for production is also looking strong and clear.

I wasn't sure if all the stuff at the end of the document was brainstorming from each individual team member, but one of the challenges the jam might present for a team this size is coming together around a cohesive vision. For individual team members, that might mean giving up a couple of pet features that would be "nice-to-haves" in order to land on a really polished core experience. Loving what I'm seeing so far, and excited to play this one a couple weeks down the road! :)

Thanks for participating in the jam, and for getting off to such a great start!

Thanks so much for your comments!

That's a great point about connecting the game more closely with the big picture of climate change. We liked how the PDF in the jam resources talked about how not every game needs to be focused on both in-depth education and emotion in order to be effective, so I think we are landing more on the emotion side. That said, I agree that the game shouldn't be devoid of approaches for addressing climate change. Within the relatively small regional scale of the game, I think we're trying to land on the importance of regulatory changes at the policy level for protecting key carbon sinks like rainforests. It's definitely just a subset of the societal changes needed in the coming years, but hopefully it presents something that feels both impactful and actionable for players.

We'll keep this concern in mind as we work, and hopefully it will remind us to present the narrative in a way that's connected to the big Whys and Hows. Thank you again for the response!

Great perspective, Evan! I think we could clarify this with the kinds of policies that show up--they wouldn't need to be all-out bans of practices, but sustainability policies like annual limits, designated spaces for certain activities, regulations of equipment used, etc.

We've also discussed how a lot of environmentally destructive activities are actually results of economic inequality, as providing employment opportunities for remote communities can often help push companies toward more sustainable models of both employment and impact. So we're definitely not looking to villainize individuals and groups acting out of necessity or using environmental resources responsibly--I think we are largely equating opportunism with the kind of corporate decision making for profit without regard for effects on regional ecosystems and economies. Hopefully we can get that kind of nuance across in the narrative!

Really appreciate the input! :)

Sounds like a really cool entry! Definitely something I could see myself picking up for a family card game night. The art style is also a very cool choice. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

This looks so cute. I also like that the pollution aspect of the game is taught indirectly, which I think will give players a greater feeling of agency and caution as they make decisions. Really excited to play this one! :)

I think this game has the potential to really open people's eyes to the difficulties of translating big, important ideals into real-world action and change in a system driven by capitalist incentives. If I have any concern with the game as currently presented, it might be that the game might be most engaging to the more academic type. But the success of a game like Papers, Please, which you highlight, indicates that a complex and bureaucratic system can still be one that piques interest for a broad array of players. Maybe that's more of a personal hesitancy, since I spend so much time in Excel for my day job. 🤣

And good luck to Adam getting familiar with pixel art! I'm also doing a pixel-art entry and have done a few previously. Happy to give some pointers and feedback as you start diving in to Aseprite.

You have done a great job outlining plans here! The scope seems perfect for the length of the jam, but I like that you also included some "stretch goals" ("Maybes") that might be possible if time allows.

I'm also really impressed with how succinct you kept each section, and how accessible these documents are to skim through and find the information you're looking for. Great work so far, and I'm really excited to see where you take this one! :)

Fantastic materials. I'm really excited to see this one. I think the idea of a small community setting gives players a sense for a scale of decision making where they can have a real impact (a la Stardew Valley community center), and it also feels unique in its snowbound location. 

Your plans are so thorough and well outlined--I'm impressed, and wish you all the best keeping up the excellent pace of production that you've begun here in ideation! Thanks for sharing, and can't wait to see what comes of your work.

Great highlights video, thank you for sharing and for featuring us! :) Great to hear about someone's experience with the game!

Really fun game concept! It was a little dependent on RNG when the chairs finally appeared, and I got trapped by the raccoons so I couldn't move much on the third level. But overall I enjoy where you went with this! Thanks for sharing!

Great game, cool stories and game mechanics! I think tooltips would have been helpful to know what each of the buildings did so I could plan better, but I think I mostly figured it out. Thanks for sharing!

Very fun submission, thank you for sharing! This would be a cool concept to see expanded into a larger game.

Great suggestion, thanks for the feedback!

No immediate plans to revisit this one, sadly, but I'm glad you had a good time! It's a genre hybrid I could see myself revisiting sometime :)

The intro to your game was hysterically funny, thanks for the fun!

Absolutely, and drop a link if you do, I'd love to see the other submissions you enjoy!

Great mechanics, very smooth and easy to understand, lots of fun trying a variety of strategies! Thanks for sharing! :)

Thanks so much for your comment, and I'm glad some of the humor landed! :) We tried to maximize the silliness haha

Thank you so much, this is such high praise!! :)

Thank you! Yeah we wanted to make the kitchenware directly interactable, but I didn't have time for the animations, sorry! 

I love the concept of this game, and it would be awesome to see it extended further to have more maps, tower types, etc. Thanks for sharing :)

Very pretty in every way. Thank you for sharing!

Great little game! I think the speed could be faster, but otherwise very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing!

Awesome submission! I loved all the affirmations as sound effects, it felt very Bennett Foddy haha. It took me a while to realize that leaving the screen was an instant kill, but on the plus side, the player explosion was also super cool! Haha, thanks for the fun play. :)

Very pretty, congrats on your first Unity game submission!

Nice entry! The character art is fantastic, and the dialogue at the beginning + the music gave a really epic feel to the game, like I just got dropped in to the final boss battle of a longer game! I think mouse control might have been a little more navigable for the player, since arrow keys are orthogonal and isometric tiles are diagonal, so I didn't always realize which tile the arrows were going to take me to. But over all very cool stuff. Thanks for the submission!

Color palette + spooky music = a fantastic vibe. Really fun to play, I maxed out the upgrades! Thanks for sharing!

Cool game! I felt like I was playing Overcooked, having to run around to the different stations haha. Very aesthetically pleasing! If there's anything I'd recommend, it's that the long reload time meant I wasn't able to play as much of the time as I wanted to. Thanks for sharing a really fun submission! 

Cool game! One life with fairly large hitboxes and fast melee movement is pretty brutal, but the game looks nice and has a solid atmosphere. Thanks for sharing! :)

That was it, thank you so much!! :) :) It's fixed now, really appreciate your help!

I love the mechanics of the various things you can pick up (especially the boomerang and boot)! The fact that they drop periodically like in Smash Bros kept things interesting, too, because your strategy would have to adapt from time to time. 325, is that a decent score? Lol. Thanks so much for sharing!

Really great atmosphere and cool system of scavenging and defending. Thank you for the awesome submission!

Amazing game. You made SSB Subspace Emissary in 10 days. Thank you for the entry!!

Awesome game, loved the spooky vibe and puzzles! Thank you for sharing.