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Pawsitively Hot's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay & Mechanics | #2 | 4.304 | 4.304 |
| Use of Themes | #3 | 4.217 | 4.217 |
| Polish & Release | #3 | 4.130 | 4.130 |
| Overall | #4 | 4.052 | 4.052 |
| Aesthetics | #7 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Writing | #8 | 3.609 | 3.609 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Artistic Statement / Use of Theme
Pawsitively Hot takes on extreme heat, a naturally occurring and unnaturally exacerbated disaster, by demonstrating how it can affect someone’s day-to-day life. As a dogwalker, the player experiences how fluctuating urban heat can harm people and animals while we’re trying to live our normal lives. I wanted to showcase both individual and collective solutions – or rather, adaptations, needed to live with the reality of urban heat.
From the beginning, I wanted to make a small game that didn’t require a lot of strategy, but still lightly educated players about heat even if you only played a few minutes. I was inspired by top-down minimalist pixel art games such as Pokemon Red and gameplay such as the Papyrus tile puzzle from Undertale.
Development Summary
I played some Climate Jam 2024 games and wanted to try submitting my own game this year. I knew my time available for the jam would be erratic, so I decided to solo develop (I’d love to try with a team next time). Because of the great free pixel assets available by generous creators online, I did not make original art and instead focused on the design, music and coding. I was pleasantly surprised to receive specific feedback from jam participants and mentors over the course of the sprints, as I had never done a jam before. I had hoped to include multiple maps where you could walk dogs, but had to cut that to just one to ensure I could include other mechanics such as the community meetings to emphasize the jam themes.
Release Plan
I plan on continuing working on Pawsitively Hot to flesh it out a bit more with multiple maps, implement better accessibility features, and add final polish such as more animation transitions. As a potential expansion, I want to explore creating maps based on very simplified versions of actual cities in California, such as incorporating their proportion of tree cover. This would provide a way to educate about real-life variety and variables.
I plan on keeping any version as a free browser game on Itch.
Topic Tags
Extreme Heat
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Comments
It's a pretty well-designed and unique game. And tackling heat in cities and it's educational through dog walking it's really incredible concept.
The treats being automatic is a bit unintuitive. I would say adding to give the treat in the following levels can be a good idea instead of automatically giving treats. Complexity is good when implemented correctly in a game.
Very simple and very addictive, I really like the walking the dogs as a mechanic, and the theme of Urban Heat is very close to home. Nice and Fun!
Surprisingly addictive! I love the gameplay loop and the little upgrades you get as you progress through the game. The art is adorable and the little dog boots are so cute. I find it super cool that the player has influence over the environment. It does a good job of introducing the player to the issue and how they have the power to bring that change in the real world.
Hi! I really liked the narrative of the game, it was really short and simple but I think it was effective at conveying your point and raising awareness, especially with how you made making a difference in your community make a gameplay difference. I think you have a strong foundation with the mechanics, and I'd personally just like to see you add more to it (I was basically on autopilot after the first minute of the game, and the game only gets easier with the introduction of more shade, so shifting parts of the map or other things that would require me to actively pay attention would be great).
P.S. The booties were awesome
Great game! Very fun and very replayable. I really enjoy the theme of the game and I think it does a good job brinigng awareness to the issue. I really enjoyed the simple and fast gameplay. It's a very cute game and I would absolutely play it again to get 5 stars faster!
I've been following this game since the first voting period, and I really like how it turned out. The art style and music are both really good. I like the addition of activities to do in between days that both factor into the game's theme and have an impact on the gameplay. The Learn More menu is very comprehensive. The game itself is incredibly fun and has a lot of replayability. My only real complaint is that I feel like the music kind of drowns out the dogs barking or whining at times, decreasing their impact. Excellent job overall!
Amazing Game! Such a unique theme ( might be bias here coming from a dog mom ). It really brings to light the issue of taking out dogs during extreme weather. The theme is presented well in the game. I love the tutorial screen UI that pop-up at the start. The mechanics are clear. I would love to see this game fleshed out and add more levels or such.
This was so cute!! I really love how you guys talked about how the extreme heat can affect dogs! I love the art style and how well it fits with the gameplay! If you guys continue to work on this, I think adding more animals that are affected by extreme heat would be awesome! The gameplay is addictive and makes you want to keep playing and collecting the flags! Being able to put booties on the dogs, speaking up at the meetings, and changing the community is an amazing touch! Overall, great job, and I loved playing!
Really liked the art style! The whole aesthetic fit well alongside the gameplay and it was super fun to play.
Loved playing this! It was very satisfying to collect the flags and learn how to be more efficient with the movement. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you implement!
Thanks so much!