I am glad you l enjoyed the setting and loved Stitch! He is a little rough around the edges, but that is part of his charm ^_^ If you DO happen to make a Stitch doll I would absolutely love to see it!
I will take another look at the sound balancing, I believe the animation sound is controlled by the SFX slider, but I can see if it starts out louder than the rest. If you can help me identify which sounds felt jarring I can lower them individually.
Oh no!!! I thought my emergency patch fixed the button bug. Just to 100% confirm, you were on version 0.1.16.1? Zflocco had that bug in version 16 but I thought I fixed it. I will step through and see if I can recreate it. Did you only apply one button during each run? Or were the white and blue buttons from the same run? I was able to recreate! It's the button granted by King Gerald which is still bugged, the post fight reward is working. Thank you for bringing my attention to this, patches incoming!
I would love to add in some more niche crochet terms. Unfortunately, I am merely borrowing the theming, I am not myself a crocheneer (I assume that is what you call yourselves? :P) But that said I am a huge logophile, so I would absolutely lean harder into the theming if you have suggestions. I think the treasures would be a great spot to get more in (I have plans for a thimble helmet for Stitch) but a crochet hook would be a great addition. And I will note down granny square for the hammock, I can pass that along to Froody when we go from my sketch to her art.
I will definitely keep expanding on it, I have acts 2 and 3 planned. I also have story elements planned, but they are mostly going to be told in the in between. I am trying to very subtly tell a story about the "character behind the camera" but in the demo it is basically nonexistent. Thank you so much for sharing all of your thoughts and kind words!
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Sure, if I make a Stitch doll I can absolutely share.
There were two sounds in particular that stood out as being overly loud. The first was the sound that played during the animation of sewing two cards together. My first time playing, I set the master volume up because the music on the title screen was so quiet. The first interactions and combat sounded fine, but when did my first card combination, the sound during the animation was much louder than anything else. I turned my computer's volume down at that point, but that made the music and other sounds harder to hear in general. I lost during that first run, and the game over sound was also very loud. While that sound was louder than I found comfortable, it wasn't quite as bad as the card combination one was, though I think it was because it didn't happen as often. On following playthroughs, I adjusted the in game volume controls a few times, and found that having the music near full and the SFX at about 25% worked best. It did mean most of the SFXs were hard to hear and I had to actively listen for them, but I found that preferable.
The term I use, and see most often, to describe a person who crochets is crocheter. And I can absolutely give you some suggestions for crochet and yarn related things and terms. I'll include a bit of a description for what each thing is and used for, starting with the two I already mentioned. Buckle up!
Crochet hooks: This one is pretty obvious, but hey, nothing wrong with starting with the basics. They come in several different sizes and shapes, though the basics are similar throughout. Your most basic ones are a straight metal, plastic, or wood piece with a hook at the end. Ergonomic ones will have larger handles, sometimes made of wood or plastic, sometimes made of rubber or silicone, to make them easier to hold and work with. The different sizes impact the size of the finished project, and some sizes work better for some weights of yarn than others. I don't know how much of a rabbit hole you want to go down with different crochet hooks, but even just a simple Treasure called "Crochet Hook" would be really cool.
Granny Square: A granny square is a type of crochet stitch pattern. They are often recommended as beginner projects, because they can be easy to learn and make and you can do a lot of different things with them. While there are a lot of different styles and variations of them, the classic granny square is a great way to signal to people that something is crocheted, because of how distinctive it is.
Scissors: Not just a crochet thing, but definitely important for crocheting. If you want to include a cutting tool that is a little more niche, a yarn cutter could work. A yarn cutter is a circular tool that has small notches in it to expose the blade inside. You place the yarn in one of the notches and give a little pull to cut it. They are often fairly decorative and have a place you can add a chain or similar to wear it as a pendant.
Locking Stitch Markers: These are tools that are used to help mark crochet work. There are a lot of different ways they can be used, so here are some examples. They are used to mark the beginning or end of a round, they are used to help keep track of the number of stitches in a row, they can be used to help keep track of the number of rows, they can be used to mark what stitch you need to attach two pieces together. There are several different designs for locking stitch markers, but the core feature is they can open and close so they can be easily added or removed from the work. You can also just call them stitch markers, but since there are a couple of different styles of stitches markers and not all work with crochet, I wanted to be specific.
Tape Measure: Again, not just a crochet thing, but they can be quite useful for crochet. If you want something similar that's a little more crochet (and knit) specific, you could go with a swatch ruler. While there are a few different designs for them, the most common one I have seen is a square with a smaller square cut out of it and measurements on the sides. They are used to check gauge in a project, by placing it on the work and counting the number of stitches and rows within the square. Some will also include holes you can use to check the size of a crochet hook or knitting needle.
Gauge: Gauge is the number of stitches and rows in a certain area of crochet fabric, often a 4 inch by 4 inch or 10 cm by 10 cm square. Gauge is important for projects where the final size is matters, such as in sweaters or hats.
Safety Eyes: Not specifically crochet, but sometimes used for stuffed toys and amigurumi. These are a type of eyes you can add to toys.
Amigurumi: This is a Japanese word for a crocheted or knitted stuffed toy. It is widely used in the fiber arts community, particularly for crocheted stuffed toys. Stitch would qualify as an amigurumi, though I think continuing to call him a crocheted doll is good as it is descriptive and probably clearer for folks who aren't in the fiber arts community.
Okay, I hope I haven't overly inundated you here. There is more I can talk about if you are interested (I haven't even really mentioned different crochet stitches), but I don't want to give you too much if it would be overwhelming or more than you want to think about trying to include.
This is great stuff! I have already adjusted down the volume of the binding animation, it is about 1/3 of its original volume which means it was indeed far too loud relative to everything else. Thank you for alerting me to it! I made a note to double check the death sound as well.
I added yarn cutter, locking stitch markers, tape measure (cant believe I forgot this!), swatch ruler, safety eyes to my list from earlier. And added gauge to my terms list. One thing that has been a little difficult for me, is that I want to ensure my setting is believably in the the 1950s. So I have been looking up the various crochet objects/tools + vintage, but its sometimes difficult to tell if I am looking at something actually old or just fake old XD Like when I search vintage locking stitch markers the thing I see mostly look fake old to me. If you happen to have any older supplies that you don't mind sharing I would love to see a picture of what they look like.
As for types of stitches, I am not sure if anything that technical will come up, since the cards are generally where the fantasy takes over and leaves the real world details behind. But, just in case, are there any specific stitches/terms:
- - which are used if you are mending an area of a crochet material?
- - which you might use if you need a section of material to be sturdier (maybe like at a hem or edge of a material?)
- - for undoing/unravelling a section of stitches
- - Any unique sounding ones which will stand out
Thank you for your help in adding a bit more realism and depth to my game. At some level I will have to take some creative liberties (and offend crocheters by slipping in some knitting references) but I really do think details like this will help overall :D
Hmmm, I'm not as familiar with vintage crochet tools. I feel like going with bulb stitch markers in plain metal colors might be okay, but I'm not 100% sure on how old that style of stitch marker is. Bulb stitch markers are a type of locking stitch marker that looks a little bit like a light bulb in its shape. I know some people will use things like safety pins for stitch markers, so if locking stitch markers aren't quite giving the right look and feel. I'd also recommend going with straight metal or wood crochet hooks over ergonomic ones. I don't know how common ergonomic handles or plastic hooks were in the 50s, but straight metal or wood handles were absolutely a thing then.
I figured that you probably wouldn't be going too depth into different stitches, which is why I focused more on tools and such. To answer your specific questions:
I'm not thinking of a specific term for mending crochet work. I know darning is used for repairing knit and some fabrics, and it can be used for certain types of crochet repair. Darning would be done with a needle and is often used for fixing holes. For larger fixes, you could use a patch, which in this case would be crocheting a separate piece and attaching it to the spot that needs fixing, or undoing around the damaged section and crocheting it again.
Crab stitches, sometimes called reverse single crochets, can be used as the final row to help strengthen the edge of a material. They also adds a different texture to the edge.
Frogging is the term used for undoing/unraveling stitches. The term came about because you are 'ripping out' the stitches, which sounds close to 'ribbit', which is the sound a frog makes.
I'm not sure if it's really unique, ribbed stitches could be a fun addition. It creates a stretchy fabric that is often used for hat brims, sleeve cuffs, and other places you want to snug fit with some stretch.
And, yeah, taking some creative liberties are to be expected when making a game like this. There is a fair bit of overlap between the knitting and crocheting world, and it would honestly feel weirder if you didn't include any knitting references at all.