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I completely agree with your thoughts on games regarding mental health, and you bring up a really good point. Ensuring that a game isn't just becoming a new kind of addiction is a really important aspect of game development that I think we all should keep in mind. And keeping track of whether or not the intention of the games we are making are consistent with what we value in life (self-expression, honesty, empathy, and basically all of the things we would like to see more of in the world) is fundamental to ensuring that our games contribute to a players experience that isn't predatory and destructive. 

That's honestly been one of my deepest concerns with this whole game jam...I'm a bit worried that people may try to use "mental health" as a selling point for their games and, instead of genuinely creating something that can facilitate inner growth within the player, just creates more "noise" within them that can distract the player long enough to make them think it's "helping" them, when in actuality it's just keeping them dependant on an external stimulus, which will completely deteriorate the moment the player goes back to their regular habitual mode of operation. In this way, instead of being "therapeutic" for people,  it will just becomes a new platform for psychological exploitation. It would be using the same tricks that marketeers, politicians (and basically every other form of con-artist) use to make people feel more comfortable giving them money for the promise of an unachievable service. And when I see an organization come along with a lot of money and "professionals" and hear them saying a lot of vaguely "scientifically" reassuring things, but provide no actual demonstrations or examples of what they're talking about...I gotta be honest...it makes me a little nervous. 

Hopefully my worries are unfounded...but I've seen a lot of organizations built around some really "nice" ideas later turn into fragmented monsters that only vaguely harbor their original intention. 

Anyway, I really appreciate your thoughtful comment. And you don't need to worry about posting walls of text (you've probably noticed, that's kind of my thing, haha). And you know what, at this point, I'm kind of thinking Aether Fly may be exactly the game that would be "therapeutic" for ME to work on right now. So, I think that's the game I'm gonna finish first. Thanks for your insightful feedback, as always! Really glad we crossed paths on here, hoping in the future we can collaborate on a project. :)

Thank you very much! :)

This game was a lot of fun! Well done! :)

I'm on a mac unfortunately, so I'm unable to try the game, though I would like to say this game looks incredibly well done! :) I really look forward to being able to play this in the near future (when there's a mac build, or I'm able to invest in a pc. Whichever one comes first lol). 

Wow, thank you so much! :) Yeah, I definitely agree that the projectiles popping out suddenly is indeed jarring. Definitely going to address that as I build on this game. And moving the character via mouse seems so obvious to me now that you've mentioned it, I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't have that in the jam build lol. Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback and kind words, it's really incredibly helpful for me going forward and I truly appreciate it! :) 

Thank you very much! :) Yeah, I'm working on making that aspect of the game less frustrating right now (and I'll be working on those pancakes soon too ;) ). Thanks for the feedback :)

I really enjoyed this game! It's very reminiscent of Undertale, and really has a lot of potential! I'd love to see this expanded on! Definitely worth downloading LOVE engine to play this, I really hope more people check this out! :)

I REALLY want to try this game, but I just can't get it to install on my mac. I've tried a few different methods and nothings worked. It's really a shame, your game looks super interesting, and you guys obviously put a lot of effort into making it.

This is a really cool submission, really good idea! Well done! :) 

Thank you very much! :)

I'm unfortunately on a mac, so I can't play the game right now. However, I really just wanted to say the production quality of this game looks incredible, especially for a jam game! Watching the trailer, the art, the music, the fluidity of the gameplay all seems fantastic (even the twilight humor resonates with me lol)! You guys did an awesome job with this, and I really would love to see this game expanded on in the future! Amazing job! :) 

Thank you so much for your feedback! :) You bring up a really interesting point. You know, I was actually just think about this 1 hp topic last night. I'm actually on the same page as you with the feeling of tension and hopefulness that goes along with the 1 hp and the portals fullness, and I'm pretty sure I can come up with an elegant way of dealing with the frustration people are having with the 1 hp while still maintaining the sense of fragility and tension that goes along with the 1 hp. I was thinking something like - it's a probably a bit more wild than people would expect - having multiple phases of the aether flies life cycle (separate from the portal), with each one having a slightly different gameplay mechanic. When the player is playing really well, they progress to the next phase, and when they get hit they get bumped back down to a previous phase. Something like that. The vision of it in my mind seems really cool, though I'll need to do some testing to make sure it's actually FUN lol. Either way, I'm seriously considering your idea with keeping the 1 hp (and there will definitely be checkpoints). 

Thank you so much for your kind-hearted and detailed feedback, it really helps me out and I TRULY appreciate it! :)

I REALLY like this game! I'm honestly surprised it doesn't have more ratings. 

My main critique would be I'd like more sound and music in the game (at least me, after the menu, there's no sound). Other than that, this game is definitely one of my favorites so far. Well done! :)

Thank you very much! :) Yeah, I know the 1 life thing is super annoying, I'm honestly a little embarrassed about that. I knew I was going to be busy the day of the submission deadline, so I was really in a rush just to make sure the game was playable and submitted. Going forward you'll definitely have multiple hits. Thanks again for the feedback! :)

I agree, the difficultly near the beginning of the level is a bit redundant and going back to the very beginning each time you get hit is needlessly tedious. You got it exactly, time was the biggest obstacle throughout the process of making this. I'm honestly pretty happy I was able to flesh-out the game as much as I was able to (I was seriously concerned for a while I wasn't going to have a playable game to submit). Thank you very much for your feedback and kind words, it really does help me keep the momentum going on this game :) 

One of the funnest bread-based games I've every played (and there's more then you might expect)! Seriously though, this is a really good submission, my only major critique would be it could definitely use some sound (there was none at least in the web version). Other than that, I really had a lot of fun with this game, well done! :)

Here's mine -

https://wishingrock.itch.io/aether-fly

Checking yours out right now :)

Very interesting premise and gameplay! I think my critique isn't that different from the general consensus, the game throws A LOT of stuff at you very quickly, both in information (the control scheme mainly) and attacks coming toward the player. Though, with some polishing to those aspects, I could definitely see this game grabbing peoples interest. The premise at the start of the game is really interesting in and of itself, unwinding a story through this kind of gameplay would be really cool to see. Well done! :)

I couldn't agree more with your critique, the gameplay ABSOLUTELY needs much more polish. Thank you very much for the feedback and kind words! :)

This is a very well executed game idea! I'd love to see this game get expanded on in the future! :)

If I had any critiques, the attacks range seems a bit short. Personally, I would probably consider enabling a button press command once the player is on a platform that can toggle the players movement in which the player sprite becomes stationary and the platforms movement is controlled by the players input commands, which would basically eliminate the need for an attack. Of course, just expanding the attacks range would probably be just as good. 

No matter where you go with the idea, I'd like to see more of it. Well done! :)

This is a really fun entry! I was smiling the whole time while playing lol! Nice work! :)

I completely agree with your critiques, I'll be making changes to all of those aspects of the game going forward.  Thank you so much for your kind comments and helpful critiques, it really helps me out! :)   

I'm on a mac, so I unfortunately can't play the game right now. Though I do want to say, the mechanic I see with using the blocks is a really cool idea! I would seriously love to see this kind of gameplay expanded on in the future! :)

Thank you very much! :)

Hey! I'd really like some feedback on the game I submitted, 

I'm really considering working on this game a lot more after this jam is over. 

I have a decent idea of where I'm going with this game from here, 

but if you could rate it and leave me a little feedback about 

what you liked or have a suggestion of what you'd like to see changed or added

I'd really appreciate it and of course I'll do the same for your game as well. 

I'm using a mac so your game would need to either be a browser based game 

or have a functioning mac build .

(I really hate adding this caveat, but I can only work with what I have right now)

https://wishingrock.itch.io/aether-fly

A side note, if anyone follows me, I'll be following you back :) 

Wow, this is a really interesting idea! Would love to see this expanded on in the future! :)

This game really had me engaged, I had a lot fun playing it! Well done! :)

Thank you so much! :) 

A really creative mix of genres, well done! :)

A simple, fun, and well polished game! Great work! :)

I really liked this! Super quality for a jam! :)

Thank you so much for your kind words! :) It really motivates me to keep working on this idea.

Wow, thank you so much! That is a huge complement to me, if I can make this game into something on the caliber as Gris I will be super happy! And I completely agree with your feelings on the 1 hit and restart mechanic, going forward I'm going to completely overhaul how death works in this game. Thanks again for your comment, it really made my day! :)

Thank you so much! :) I'm really happy and relieved to hear people liking the art and music in this, I made everything so quickly I was a little worried about the quality of everything lol. 

Thank you so much for your kind words, I really appreciate it! :)

Thank you so much for your feedback! :) Yeah I agree, an actual health system and more difficulty is definitely on my mind as I continue to work on this game. And I was in such a rush to put this game together for the jam I just kind of slapped the patterns together as quickly as possible to make sure they were in there lol. Going forward I'll definitely be spending more time coming up with interesting patterns for players to deal with.  

Thank you so much :)

This is a really well done entry, I really enjoyed it! :) Nice work!

Thank you so much for your kind words! :) I really liked your game too, it's such good idea and put together really well!

What an interesting idea! I really like this game, well done :)