calzone407 2022-04-05 20:39
A visual novel for a game jam game is pretty crazy, all the drawings are pretty good. Having music woulda been nice, other than that, pretty cool.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → Carrot Grove
By zozol, kaem, Miklo, ehon, Lishiana, mimbladora, Griszka and Klaudia
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 370 | 3.77 | 55 | |
| Fun | 655 | 3.41 | 54 | |
| Innovation | 787 | 3.20 | 55 | |
| Theme | 676 | 3.66 | 55 | |
| Graphics | 88 | 4.48 | 57 | |
| Audio | 426 | 3.56 | 56 | |
| Humor | 399 | 3.46 | 54 | |
| Mood | 290 | 3.87 | 53 |
A visual novel for a game jam game is pretty crazy, all the drawings are pretty good. Having music woulda been nice, other than that, pretty cool.
I got the bad ending, even though I tried really hard :( I should have saved before trying!
@calzone407 Hm, the game has music - maybe you had the slider moved to the very bottom in the preferences? If you're interested in giving it another try, we updated it with some bugfixes and we added to the engine the dialogues written during the jam that we didn't input on time, so it's a whole diffrent experience. Oh! There is a now a best ending tutorial at the bottom of the page as well : D
@volt450 ooh so bad :( Btw, if you want to give it another try, we updated the game with some stuff done during the jam that we didn't put into the game on time and we provided a best ending guide at the bottom of the page!
Aaah I love the art style and the music! The writing felt solid as well. I've only played through once, but definitely plan on trying to see all the endings later. Great job!
It's a pretty ambitious graphic novel with some deep characters! I think I can't hold all the information in my head which the game gives me, so of course I got the bad ending! But that's my own problem... There's also some really interesting mix of art styles, with really expressive 2d art. Music and sound effects could use some variation, but othwerwise nice work!
@save-sloth-studios thank you! if you don't remember what steps you should take at the ritual, remember you can check the hints anytime in your notebook in the upper right corner :-)
I absolutely adore narrative games and visual novels in game jams, and I have been trying to make good story-based games for many LD editions - this game is everyhting I wish I could have made. Here the various things I enjoyed, in no particular order: - Kikimora - The way you discover the "map" little by little - The quizzes "ร -la-Nier" that incentivise you to pay attention to what is being told - The fact that you can go to the Ritual circle from the start - The art, be it the background or the characters - The attention put to the sound design - The multiples endings - A fun, Hades-like introduction to Slavic folklore - The fact that you put a guide to get the best ending
What an awesome entry - thank you for making visual novels!
@jlv thank you so much! we all love kiki the kikimora very much at serious game manufacture, too
Oh. I just got the neutral one after the second try :(. Maybe I need to do something different :(. The game is great, thank you :)! Everything is good about it.
@mcmuniz thank you so much! There is a best ending guide at the bottom of the game description if you find yourself stuck!
@biku Thank you for playing! There is a best ending tutorial at the bottom of the game description, it should be helpful if you'd like to achieve the best one :D
As a Slav this game really got me interested! It's really nice seeing Slavic stuff such as names, like Boginka and Vodnik and traditional clothes! The game itself was a really nice time and it had a really chill and relaxing autumn vibe. The only thing I'd recommend adjusting is the voice volume, it's way too quiet compared to background music, even with volume sliders.
Good stuff!
Amazing art style and the music fits so well! I'm not really into visual novels, but I do appreciate an interesting story and nicely included LD theme in it. As a Slav, I also appreciate that someone is creating games based on our mythology and legends :) Really well crafted game. Great job!
I was already impressed by the huge settings menu for a jam game, and then I started the game! So much content and a great story. The music did start to get quite repetitive as I progressed through the game, but that's a minor thing. I'm not usually a fan of visual novel games, but this one I liked! Excellent work :)
@sodoj Thank you for playing! We are aware of the sound issue - we're going to fix it in a patch.
@zimny11 Thank you very much!
@animalx Thank you. Our music composer got a new job during a game jam and wasn't able to add a thrid track due to his workload and new, unexpected responsibilites. We as a team have a rule to not use free music/art for jam games so that's why it could get a bit repetitive. Glad you enjoyed it nonetheless!
Well, this was a bit hard to rate for me X) I'm not a huge fan of visual novel, but I can tell this one is really good, with lots of polish and love put in it, which is even more impressive for a game made in three days ! Really nice entry, even though it's hard to rate when you're not in the audience targeted by the genra ^^ Also the fact that this is very different from all the other entries (I mean, visual novel in game jam is original by itself X) ) with cultural notes is really cool
Ah man, I got the bad ending, ha! I think it's a bit unfortunate that I couldn't pick out different figurines afterwards, since the dude in the swamp told me to get a bear and rabbit, but the lady in the field told me to grab a horse, but it was too late since the figurine lady went to the library already. It's definitely a bit confusing, since characters are apparently known to lie, and I have no idea who to trust.
The artwork is actually incredible. The story is pretty great, and every character was unique and interesting. Very great work!
what a beautifull art, good concept!
The artwork is very good. It's cool your team was able to put this adventure story together. I do think some of the audio could be worked on. Good job!
I'll start by saying that I didn't actually play the game and won't rate it to be fair. The art style looks awesome and I would love to try it out at some point, but starting your description by mentioning that it's a long experience means I just don't have the time to play it during the jam. I hope you do well in the jam!
Not usually a big fan of visual novels but this one was a good experience. Great art and story, good job! :smile:
@dodormeur Thank you! We do know it was an unique approach but our small studio loves experiments.
@100th-coin It was supposed to be a little confusing to not be too easy to finish the ritual first try. There is best ending guide at the bottom of the description btw if you want to try once more (the swamp guy, Will, is a liar and nothing he says is true!). Also good idea with the possibilty to re-pick the figurines, I'd try to code it in the upcoming patch. Thank you!
@marvis @itskdog @cakts thank you so much, it means a lot!
@gal-afik haha, no worries, we know it's not a game for everyone. the gameplay is around 20 minutes estimatelly, a bit longer if you go for the best ending. thank you anyways
I would say something funny and useful, but Boginka is my new waifu and that's saying something, 5 out of 5 no questions asked.
Whoaa, this is both a narrative masterpiece AND quite a sight for sore eyes. It amazes me how you managed to put so much work into the project under the strict time constrains. The world feels so alive and so vast it honestly makes me want to see the post-jam development of the project.
Absolutely beautiful! and the audio is lovely too - great job ^^
I love this abstract idea of putting together visual novel with sort of a "who's lying" riddle! The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, I love the map in particular. The backing music is probably the only thing I wasn't a big fan of, after a while it can get a little monotonous. Other than that, I really enjoyed the sound design! Well done for getting something of this scale done!
i HATE visual novels, they are just not compatible with my adhd but i decided to give this ago and i was suprised at how it kept me in. i love the characters, the background music was perfect and overall made me reconsider maybe trying more visual novels. good job!
Yay, a Renpy game!
The art is beautiful, the text is well written and the enigma is a nice idea. I just found it maybe a bit too long and complex for a jam game. Great idea to give tips for the good ending on the itch page since it's not that easy to get it!
Thanks for the game I had fun.
I love the art and the music. Great game.
It would be nice if you can still see the dialog while choosing an option. Tbh I'm not that much of a reading guy and skipped a little bit and when it came to make a decision I couldn't see anymore what was said so I had to pick at random. But that's not a big problem, I think the target audience wouldn't be skipping through the dialog like me... :)
Very, very impressive. Stunning background sets and characters. Everything comes together nicely, the music, story, the notebook is also an awesome addition. Nice entry!
Very cool !! Great graphics !! Nice job.
Top-quality waifus and husbandos :purple_heart: I really wish I had limited edition Marzanna figurine :thumbsup:
Great to see a game that uses Ren'Py, I used to play around with it some years ago, but it was always a lack of art that didn't allow me to progress further.
The story is light and fun, doesn't get boring or cringe at all. It was unique to see Slavic settings (I'm from Poland as well!). All characters are quite interesting although their quality and art style varies. You had so many artists that it is understandable, but I think it is nice that you get to make a game with so many people, you seem like a group of friends.
Unfortunately, I got BAD ending on my first try, but at least I have a Save before the ritual, so I hope for the best. Good luck with your future endeavours!
@i1415 @bramreth @doot @finn-pickart @suchista thank you so much for playing and for your feedback!
@shess Well, it was inspired by demons and spirits of our conutry's culture, so plenty of the lore fluff and quests were inspired by the knowledge we already had, for example Boginka's hat is a slavic myth (the fact that she hates goatweed and eats fern too!), all the rite elements were inspired by Jare Gody - ancient Slavic celebratory ritual - and Midsummer Night celebration etc. I am planning to write a short post mortem for this game with some very poor gameplay sketches done in paint by me at the very beginning to show how it all came to life. Important fact: a placeholder for Will (the guy on the swamp) was a shrek picture. Thank you for playing!
@realtanhen Thank you! As for the music, our music composer got a new job during a game jam and wasnโt able to add a thrid track to add some music variety due to his workload and new, unexpected responsibilites. We as a team have a rule to not use free music/art for jam games so thatโs why it could get a bit repetitive. Glad you enjoyed it nonetheless!
@radmccool Haha, your comment made my day :D Thank you for playing and glad you enjoyed our work even though visual novels are not your jam (pun intened).
@haayaargh Fun fact, we wanted to add a secret way to get Marzanna figurine from Devana but we cut this content due to time constrains of the jam. Our team cherished your comment a lot, especially the part about being a group of friends, since that's simply true. Some of us work in the industry, some at different fields than gamedev, some are still looking for a job but for game jams we all become Serious Game Manufacture with a goal of creating something fun. Anyways, thank you for playing and for the feedback! If you still cannot land that sweet sweet good ending, there is a in-depth guide at the bottom of the game description. Good luck to you too!
A visual novel! Omg this was exactly what I was waiting for. I love it ๐๐๐๐
The art style is beautiful and the audio complements each other for a visual novel.
Doh! I didn't see the best ending tips until I came back here. I had the book of notes filled and thought I had every item so I just went for it (turns out I was missing the key piece of mead anyways which I don't think I would've ever naturally stumbled upon without a hint). I'm not a VN savvy person and now I know I really should've saved before starting the ritual...
I did play it a few times trying to to solve the mystery though. I didn't know what to expect coming into the game, but when I saw the map and especially once I got quizzed and understood the game structure I started to pay extra attention. I thought the game was quite interesting in how you could get conflicting pieces of evidence in your notes, so you had to pay special attention to the dialogue to figure out who was lying or not confident in their answers.
So my takeaway from this game was its concept of being one of those logic-lying-puzzles mixed with a VN and the result was a lot more entertaining than I expected. Coupled with an unfolding world it was need to explore and learn not just about the new characters, but ultimately the clues they had for the ritual, forming a longterm goal to think about the whole time. Awesome concept and pretty innovative!
This is quite an involving adventure, however lots of text. I'm a writer, but sometimes it feels too much, and the narrative flow should be very exciting. Overall, there's a nice one to play.
Wow! I'm impressed how much you got in with the time constraint. I really liked all the art and strange characters, nice job!
@naplz @4ahizon @jahwffrey thank you so much for playing and for your feedback, glad you liked Carrot Grove!
@peachtreeoath yeah, the mead was a little hidden :D we were a little inspired by Gnosia (something like a visual novel Among Us game) and Ace Attorney so we came up with such a game concept for the base gameplay idea. We're really glad that you enjoyed it!
@ardorugus As you can see, we had no writer in our team, the whole narrative was a collective effort of 3 team members who are not even native english speakers - we're happy that it was involving and nice to play nonetheless. If we go for a visual novel next time, we'd try to make the flow more exciting. Thank you for playing and for the valuable writer's feedback!
Boginka was REALLY CUTE. I also loved the environment design in general and decision branches. Great job.
Wow, so impressive for a jam game! I loved the backgrounds and Oriel's expressions, haha. There's so much content, congrats to the team!
That is a lot of content, the graphics are awesome. I like the slavic theme too :)
Wow, really nice and polished game! I took my time, and it felt nice. I wasn't expecting it to last that much time, and it was interesting all the way to the end.
@s-onoe @maimai @lilkrit @oroshix thanks for playing and for your feedback, glad you liked Carrot Grove! :D
Although I'm not the biggest fan of visual novels, I really enjoyed this one! Featured it in part seven of my let's play series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgPpMxxPfRs Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to fully explore the game, it is indeed quite long :) That's also why I only rated it in some and not all of the categories, hope that's okay for you!
visually cool, nice storyline.
Huge amount of content for a gamejam, well done! Very impressive.
@erkberg thank you for playing our game on stream and don't worry about not rating all the things! Btw yes, the game was made in Ren'py, it's an engine/python extension to support making of visual novels in general, good call.
@goldenxd @aumbra thanks for playing and for your feedback, glad you liked Carrot Grove! :D
Great entry ! Definitely a lot of work has been put into this ! Great art, story, writing, music... Well done !
@yamzho thank you for playing and we're happy that you enjoyed it!
Very impressive that you were able to make this game in such a sort time! I love this kind of narrative! Great work ^^
@solanumteam thank you! It was a group effort :D