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Tides are Red, Tears are Blue's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Writing | #16 | 3.150 | 3.571 |
| Use of Themes | #27 | 2.898 | 3.286 |
| Overall | #29 | 2.545 | 2.886 |
| Gameplay & Mechanics | #29 | 2.394 | 2.714 |
| Aesthetics | #30 | 2.394 | 2.714 |
| Polish & Release | #33 | 1.890 | 2.143 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Artistic Statement / Use of Theme
Our project is a story-driven game that explores disasters that appear natural but are, in fact, unnatural. The player takes on the role of a researcher who arrives in Baylan Town to investigate a recent disaster, gradually uncovering the hidden truth behind the events. As the mystery deepens, players will navigate a richly detailed 2.5D RPG world, encountering diverse characters, solving layered environmental puzzles, and piecing together a fragmented narrative shaped by shifting perspectives and moral ambiguity.
Development Summary
One of the most interesting developments during production was the change in the storyline. Initially, we planned a single linear plot, but later decided to make the narrative more dynamic—with player choices, branching paths, and multiple endings. This shift made the game much more complex than we originally expected. We also faced the challenges of working on a large collaborative project: coordinating across a team of nine contributors required constant communication, attention to detail, and effort to keep everyone aligned throughout the design process.
Release Plan
The current releasability of the game is limited due to its scope, but we’re committed to continuing development and hope to publish it on a larger platform in the future. Our immediate focus is on refining the content, fixing plotline logic, and ensuring all narrative elements work together smoothly.
Topic Tags
Ocean Pollution, Scientific Ethics
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Comments
Nicely done! The writing works well to make the player curious to learn more about what's going on. I did get stuck on the dock in the fishing area for a bit, but I was able to try moving in a bunch of directions until I could keep going. I made it to the turtle before I wasn't sure how to proceed (I saw the black screen with a bottle made out of shapes, I presure that's meant to be a minigame?). The environment and waves look gorgeous! I agree with the other commenter that the player looks a bit out of place (this didn't have any negative impact on my experience playing the game though).
Wow! Really enjoyed this, the art is fantastic, and the way the dialogue is really makes it feel like a full blown RPG. If I had a suggestion it would be to make the character fit into the world a bit more, either through smaller sizing or animation.
This was such an interesting game!
I am not super familiar with the 2.5 RPG style so i found it very visually striking. I love the character art and the designs, they manage to be both very appealing but ordinary feeling in a wonderful relatable sense. The lighting on the beach was also particularly gorgeous.
The success of the game lies in the quality of writing and I really do believe that's where it shines. The dialogue felt natural but managed to leave room for a bit of mystery, incentivizing you to progress the story. I immediately felt quite attached to Mateo and wanted to see through his story as well!
Unfortunately I did run into a couple major bugs like my character getting stuck or just clipping through the floor. I did have to restart a few times but managed to get to the part where you encounter the turtle.
I am greatly intrigued by the story told thus far and hope that you continue polishing the game so that we can see it to the end! Wonderful work.
thank you for playing!
This is a really cool game! The writing was very good and almost made it feel like I was reading a book. The decoration and environment design was very nice, and I liked the detail that NPC dialogue would change depending on what character you had equipped at the moment. It was a little hard to tell where I was supposed to go at times, and I unfortunately got stuck after Mateo joined my party. Still you've done really good in the short time period we had, and hope you keep polishing the game in the future to add missing polish such as sound effects and music. Keep up the good work!
thank you for playing! Happy to hear that you liked what we have so far :)