Thanks for giving it a try and for your kind words about the interface! Totally understand it's not for everyone, and I thank you for giving me that feedback. It lets me know maybe I can chill it a bit on the messages that keep popping up by cutting a few texts. :)
I had created a complex back-end system that was a mix of time elapsed, how many actions someone has taken, and a buffer between the texts so they weren't coming in all at once. But I could see it's still a lot, so thank you again!
Viewing post in Borrowing Kai's Phone jam comments
Yeah, thanks for being so receptive to my critiques.
I think if you make it so the player watches the text pop up and has to engage in some way when it's there turn to text, that would make it more immersive and interactive. Please excuse me, you definitely did amazing with setting up all the mechanics and visuals, but I felt very much like a passive observer, which can work, but I wanted to be in some way interactive with the events and maybe even feel a like a catalyst to things.
If you make it so you lead the player through the dialogue, so it's not so much at once. I'll play it again. And leave a review.
That makes sense, thank you for explaining! I think I misread your first comment as being about the notifications, when it's really about how much there is to read at once and wanting a turn of your own.
The passive part is on purpose. I took reading someone's mail as the main point of the jam, so I wrote it that way. The first question of the game is what you do with someone's phone when they trust you with it, and sending texts as Kai felt like a step too far for me. The second question is whether care still feels genuine when it's scheduled. So the choices are about where you look and when you stop, not what you say. But I hear you that it can feel like watching from the outside.
The pacing note is really useful though. I wanted it to feel like a real phone, where the messages are already there when you open it. I kept the one-on-one texts as brief as I could without them feeling like filler. The group chats are where I spent the most time. They're longer on purpose, because both of them help you put the whole story together. And even though you're supposed to be heading to dinner, there's no hard cutoff. Time moves forward in the story, but nothing stops you from taking as long as you like.
No pressure at all to replay, and thanks again for giving it a go. :)