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Bound to Grow's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #2 | 4.138 | 4.138 |
| Graphics | #3 | 4.621 | 4.621 |
| Originality | #3 | 4.276 | 4.276 |
| Overall | #9 | 3.887 | 3.887 |
| Controls | #24 | 3.621 | 3.621 |
| Accessibility | #27 | 3.345 | 3.345 |
| Fun | #35 | 3.379 | 3.379 |
| Theme | #40 | 3.828 | 3.828 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.3
Wildcards Used
N/A
Game Description
Bound to Grow is a narrative-driven game where you play as the last librarian of a village slowly swallowed by the rising sea. As your library sinks, you uncover an ancient book containing a forgotten prophecy—one that speaks of a legendary tree, the village’s only hope for survival. But a tree cannot grow alone. To make it flourish, you must explore the town, unite its people, and restore hope before time runs out. Will you be able to bring the village together before it's too late? Controls: Move : WASD/ZQSD or Arrow keys (Keyboard), Joystick or D-pad (Xbox controller) Action : E or Space (Keyboard), A or X (Xbox controller) Open Book : Tab (Keyboard), Menu/Select (Xbox controller)
How does your game tie into the theme?
You grow a magical tree to save your flooding village.
Source(s)
https://github.com/OIIOIIOI/gwj-79-v2
Discord Username(s)
01101101, monsieur.turb
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
2
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Comments
Great mix of narrative and gameplay elements! The audio was a bit laggy. I would recommend exporting with threads enabled next time, making use of itch's SharedArrayBuffer feature. Well done!
Thanks for the feedback, and the technical tip!
I was planning to explore the threads option, but ran out of time. The audio is better on the desktop versions for sure.
Excellent entry! Also, love the name, esp now that I’ve played it. At first I wasn’t sure about the realistic hands, but once I got to the first mini game, it clicked. I think the slight smile on the character’s face feels a little… out of character and I’m also not into the water visuals but there are both ultra minor notes on a really interesting and enjoyable experience. I was tempted to hit the hand placing the nail a few more times for the noise but I had to get through it to make sure I could rate in time!
Haha thanks for the feedback :)
I am working on a better water effect for the post-jam version!
Great work. I got to say, my favorite part is the nail. Oh my goodness. So genius! Loved the sounds and music. And a good theme too! It came together so well.
Thank you for your feedback! Haha, yes, the nail part can be surprising!
Great work! Art style and sounds really well came together to make unique aesthetic.
Thank you for your feedback OneMadAnt, We're glad you enjoyed it!
It's no wonder people feel doomed if they have had to rely on boats made using that nail hammering technique...
But seriously, wonderful art style, and the narrative had enough gameplay between it to keep the game flowing. A very minor point - the loading bar color blended in so much, I thought the game wasn't loading for a bit :]
Hey Pete! Thank you for taking the time to play the game and give your feedback, we truly appreciate it!
I love this kind of hopeful apocalypse, it’s a great mood. every aspect of your game came together really well to tell a sweet story, both thoughtful and entertaining. I appreciated every moment of it. stellar entry!
A really solid adventure. I really loved the art style and the overall ambience. The minigames were fun and not too long. Fun characters and a nice compact story, great job!
Thank you Garrit!
Whoa this was a good one. Art, music, storytelling. It all came together. The giant hands on the screen reminded me of this Monty Python game from the 90s. Nice work!
The work of Terry Gilliam was a major inspiration for the mini-game part ahah. I never knew about the existence of the Monty Python games before—I went to watch a playthrough, and it's a great reference! I'll add it to my list. Thanks for that and your awesome feedback! ;)
I really enjoyed your game! I thought the art style and music were vivid and unique, and I really enjoyed the splashes of humor laced throughout. A small detail that really stood out to me was the quivering text during dialogue. What a neat touch!
I was also very impressed by how effective your writing was at world-building in such a short game. It definitely made you feel like there was such a big world around the events of the game.
One small note is that at the opening of the game, there was no indication in game about what button to push to advance dialogue. It wasn't a big issue, but I did spend a minute hitting random keys figuring it out before I noticed your write-up on the controls in the game description.
Thanks for making such a cool game!
Thank you for taking the time to play our game and share this great feedback!
That's an excellent point you raised about the input info at the beginning of the game – we’re taking note ;)
Interesting. Missing the nail and hitting the hand was hilarious, good work!
Thank you for your feedback BunnyHog!
Amazing art! Looks so good! Well done!
Thank you!
art is amazing, music is tense, and minigames are fun little snippets! characters are unique and narrative is great as well
Hey z-tier! Thank you for playing our game, happy you liked it!
Awesome game! The unique art style and soundtrack really built a nice atmosphere that complemented the story well. I think the minigames were nice little injections of gameplay and added some variety as the story was told. The buff mayor was funny, but I also felt like that sort of character/humor felt a little out of place here.
The game ran fairly well, but I had some audio stuttering and some screen flickering (only in fullscreen) throughout. Could be a browser only issue, though. I know Godot historically has had audio trouble with web exports.
Overall, great job! One of my favorites so far for the art and atmosphere alone!
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback!
We really appreciate it, and we're taking note of it. 😉
Amazing art style!! it's really catch my eyes. All mini games are also done beautifully. Great job guys! :)
Thank you Notfont!
Very cool playthrough with a touching narrative. Unique visuals, too!
Appreciated the gradual crescendo of the game's theme as different items were thrown into the well and you progressed - a nice touch that helps carry the emotion of it.
Thank you Undine! Glad you enjoyed the journey!
Super cool game! I love the art style, it looks really cool and striking. It was an interesting story and I appreciate that there were minigames to move the story along as I played thru. I love the buff mayor he was my favorite lol. I would've liked a bit more challenge to the minigames. Super impressive entry, great work!
Thank you for taking the time to give this awesome feedback!
We’re noting the interest in a slightly higher difficulty for the mini-games.✌️
I love the art style and soundtrack, also nice story!
Thank you for this feedback WorldHatter!
this was AMAZING! I hop after the jam you guys keep adding to it. It was so well polished and although there weren't a lot all of the puzzles/mini games the were all great!
Thank you very much, Edward! We have more content we may add to the game soon! Don't hesitate to follow the Itch.io page to check the next update! 😉
I love this art style, the music, and the creativity you've taken with the theme. Welldone!
Thank you Kai!
This is amazing!
I am absolutely in love with the art style. The story is WEIRD, and interesting. The sound is absolutely on point.
And now I’m sitting here with a dumb big grin on my face.
Thank you for making this <3
Wow that's an awesome message! We're glad you enjoyed the journey! ;)