FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD40 → A cozy winter walk

A cozy winter walk

By tinyworlds

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall5363.4951
Fun8822.9151
Innovation9522.7050
Theme10902.4450
Graphics5283.5751
Mood184.3451

Comments

matthew-di-mare-miller 2017-12-05 00:07

I really enjoyed the mood of this game. Short, simple, and sweet :) thanks for that!

mark-kennedy 2017-12-05 00:17

Very relaxed. Lovely. Your games are always so calming.

sayomgwtf 2017-12-05 00:22

Mr Fluffy needs its on adventure! This game is a hell of a lot cuter as you play it, loved it :)

reality-blind 2017-12-05 01:08

Nice game :)

valkyrie 2017-12-05 01:08

Very cute & tiny game.

flankstaek 2017-12-05 01:09

Very calming, would have loved like a fire noise inside the houses though.

tinyworlds 2017-12-05 01:10

@flankstaek I so wanted to add this! Sadly it's not possible with Bitsy. Having audio at all is a hack. Playing a hidden Youtube video for the sound ;)

matthew-roelle 2017-12-05 01:13

I really enjoyed the pace, it was a nice break from the actiony titles I've been reviewing all afternoon :)

bigbazwa 2017-12-05 01:47

That was a nice little game! Great aesthetic, loved the colors.

gelisam 2017-12-05 02:19

Huh, so that's what a walking simulator is like? I had stayed away from the genre because I didn't think I'd like it, and it seems I was right. None of the objects I pick up are _supposed_ to do anything? The NPCs are giving me quests, but that's just flavour text, it's not a task I can actually complete?

Sorry, I'm new to the genre, so I can't yet tell if I dislike your game because it doesn't live up to what the genre can offer, or if I just dislike the genre in general.

Cute characters though!

Oh, and the walking controls are weird: sometimes, the character keeps walking in a straight line after I release the key, and this caused me to automatically enter and the get out-of-bounds in the tree house.

tinyworlds 2017-12-05 02:30

@gelisam: I wanted to add more interaction/ people reacting on what you found. But that doesn't seem to be possible with Bitsy (the engine). So this really is just a playable narrative right now :) I also noticed the bug with the walking controls, good call. Can't change that though, that's due to the engine.

velvetlobster 2017-12-05 02:50

This is really sweet. The scenarios are cute, simple and beautiful. I also loved the text effects!

thetophatnoob 2017-12-05 02:53

The only thing that can make this game more calming is if I had tea while I played it. I like your approach to the theme and the background sounds were nice.

torcado 2017-12-05 03:29

gosh what a cute game! very calming, I really enjoyed it.

sean-s-leblanc 2017-12-05 03:53

This is adorable! Cool to see a bitsy entry too!

I really loved the use of items for the cat, having it run ahead of you and making you pick it up each time.

Some minor issues: - The tree and Susan's house are missing walls so you can wander around in the void - the final sentence of the ending is a character too early (the "a" from "a game by..." shows up in the previous page) - I also ran into the issue where the player would walk forward in the last pressed direction. I haven't seen that bug in a bitsy game before, and it didn't happen again when I refreshed; might be a good idea to ping adam and see if it can be fixed.

Great entry!

bitsandcrafts 2017-12-05 10:47

Love it! The soup was great and Fluffy slept all night. Simple and calm, nice concept/storytelling. Good job @tinyworlds

tinyworlds 2017-12-05 11:20

@sean-s-leblanc: Thank you for the feedback! Fixed everything but the walking :) Wonder where the bug could possibly have come from.

kokirisandfriends 2017-12-05 12:03

Cute, tiny and relaxing game! Keep creating tiny worlds ^^

space-backyard 2017-12-05 14:34

Super cute ;)

michael-clavell 2017-12-05 15:36

Aesthetic was really enjoyable. Game was relaxing.

pandanym 2017-12-05 15:51

Really wholesome experience, thanks for this moment of peace you've offered me

deshipu 2017-12-05 17:07

Very cute, you maxed out the mood.

markopolodev 2017-12-05 17:44

The text effects (rainbow and the oscillating wave thing) are a really nice touch!

Things that could change (aka super tiny nitpicks): - you can't see the rug when the character is in that space. Not sure if no alpha is a limitation of the engine. - I wasn't sure if being next to a thing would trigger the dialogue or if being on top of it would, so I sometimes accidentally skipped the first box of dialogue for an item. adding a small time gap where you ignore player input for half a second or a second after a dialogue box appears would probably fix this.

Quite relaxing on the whole. I wish more people would make these sorts of entries.

gumboot 2017-12-05 18:01

The mood was perfect in this game. I also loved the little effect of fluffy always being a bit ahead of you, gave me more reason to push forward. Susan was nice (:

remco 2017-12-05 19:56

Well... You never know how much you need one of these kinds experiences until you pick up another one. Thank you, just what I needed this evening :slight_smile: Loved the atmosphere you create! It reminds me of some ['self-care-jam' games](https://itch.io/jam/self-care-jam), and also of [_Lieve Oma_](https://vltmn.itch.io/lieve-oma).

I like how, even with a color palette this limited, you still found it important to reserve one color for the interactives.

By the way, just how many flower seeds is Johnny supposed to give you?

(I also expected to see the foxes, but you can't have everything, I guess... :yum:)

tinyworlds 2017-12-05 20:37

@remco Nono, the foxes are all safe in their home due to the frosty weather :yum: Oh I really liked Lieve Oma! It may have been an unconscious inspiration :) Oh and good call with the flower seeds .. probably the nicest bug found so far ^^

tuism 2017-12-05 21:27

I really like the thought of the game, but it really wasn't "fun" or "interesting". I would have liked to feel more agency - there were all these moments that could introduce agency and give player actual choices that could make differences in the game, but alas it wasn't meant to be. I ran through a second time without picking anything up and nothing was different... A missed opportunity.

The controls felt sticky? It would be nice if the movement weren't against a keyboard repeat where there was a delay before moving, and the fastest way was to tap faster...

I really liked the little touches that were in the presentation - like the rainbow texts, wobbly texts, etc.

skullpixel 2017-12-05 21:50

Not a bad little story. Who doesn't like a Bitsy game?

tinyworlds 2017-12-05 22:04

@tuism: Thanks for the feedback! The lack of agency is due engine constrictions. I wanted characters to react on what you pick up, but there doesn't seem to be a way to see if the player has the item or not.

jjjjason 2017-12-06 06:13

Cute! Refreshing after a whole bunch of games about shooting or stabbing things. Have you made other things with Bitsy before? What do you think about it as a development platform?

acamara 2017-12-06 13:24

I like it, a lot. It's a simple, cute, warm adventure. It doesn't need anything, it doesn't have too much of anything.

local-minimum 2017-12-06 19:33

Nice storytelling and nice mood. I like the cute text effects and really all I could wish for would be more episodes and perhaps a bitsy little more rewards for going off track exploring. I had fun playing it. And I think it was just about the right length for the contents.

tinyworlds 2017-12-06 20:55

@jjjason: I made a couple of smaller things with Bitsy before, but nothing really finished. It's really limited, but also really fun. Really forces you to focus on making a game and telling a story and don't "waste time" on graphics or coding :) Definitively could recommend toying a bit around with it!

gruhh 2017-12-06 21:51

interesting aesthetic, simple but beautiful game. Congratulations on the project.

Estética interessante, jogo simples mas bonito. Parabéns pelo projeto. :flag_br:

steven-pinto 2017-12-06 22:08

Simple small game :) Good job with the art style! And I also like the effects on the text. Well done and all the best! Pls feel free to play and rate my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/split

ciaccodavide 2017-12-08 00:11

Nice simple game!

The rainbow and waveing text is awesome!

navot 2017-12-08 09:39

I had to take some time to rate this, because this entry somewhat stands out, due to not really having any gameplay. It was an interesting experience, because it was so simple, and it had a nice atmosphere. I also liked that you didn't drag this out for ages without adding anything new, since it would have gotten boring. Also the graphics are super nice!

zenmumbler 2017-12-08 21:27

Good positive spin on the theme. It's hailing outside and I've got a warm cuppa right here so this was a good moment to play.

Afterthought: you know, I was annoyed with the theme because it would (and did) give rise to many negatively-themed or "reverse" games, but I didn't even consider reversing it like you did, which now seems obvious. Thanks for sharing and good night.

saramartins 2017-12-09 19:55

This was an adorable game. Just adorable. I see the spin you put into the theme, but still I can't say that it fits. However what's lacking in theme has in charm. Just lovely art, relaxing sound, a cute and simples story. The interactions with the objects don't really give anything more than filler to story, and in spite of not having a real progression, I can't say I wasn't amazed at the whole feel.

The story was linear and simple, but it did have progression, with start, middle and end.

Overall just a lovely great game, I really enjoyed it in spite of the theme. Congratulations!

iluvatar 2017-12-10 14:20

I'm a huge fan of minimalistic art so I liked it very much. The game and narrative itself is very positive and sweet. I would just add some calm music to make it obvious that it is a positive game. I honestly expected something terrible happen to the character, since I've heard that windy snow blizzard which added more of a thrilling/horrorish mood to the game :) . Overall, really nice game.

tinyworlds 2017-12-10 19:34

@iluvatar: Thank you, that was an interesting perspective with the sound! A let's player actually put calm music on top of the ambient sounds as you suggested and it worked really well :)

jan-netusil 2017-12-11 10:30

Really cute, i enjoyed this. Good choice of colors, and i loved emphasis on detail in the environment (trehouse, fox den...). What I like specially on these games is that it sets the mood and let you use your imagination, good job! :)

paulhocker 2017-12-12 04:21

super fantastic

aeveis 2017-12-12 08:33

I enjoyed my walk in the woods! Short and sweet. I liked the extra things you could interact with and get some more story/snippets.

dvdfu 2017-12-13 18:34

Such a cozy game! I like small graphical motifs like the brighter areas being interactive. Wasn't sure at first how the theme fit but after reading your description, I found it super charming. This game was very nice, great job!

edmond00 2017-12-14 16:57

Minimalist game with an enjoyable mood. I liked the cat that follow you. I was expected a little twist in the story or the gameplay at the end to fit the theme but finally I appreciated that the game stays very sober and cute even if it sounds like a misinterpretation of the theme !

tinyworlds 2017-12-14 18:17

@edmond00: I looked at what the theme implies: "the less you have the better it is" vs. the more you have the worse it is :) But honestly I twisted the theme a little to make something positive and cute out of it ^^

2017-12-19 19:11

Cute little game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2J0D0dmydc