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Bloom: drag a rain cloud onto one wilting plant and it blooms (browser, ~20s)

A topic by mani-lands created 21 days ago Views: 174 Replies: 6
Viewing posts 1 to 5
I made a small one-screen thing. You drag a rain cloud over one wilting plant; when it has had enough water it blooms. That is the whole game, about 20 seconds, no install. I am not asking whether it is good. I am trying to find where it loses people, so two specific things: 1. In the first three seconds, does anything ask you to do something? Or do you just look at a plant and a cloud? 2. After the first bloom, is there any reason to keep going? Right now it is one drag and an 18 second hold, and "plant again" resets the same layout. I think that is the weak part. Play: https://mani-lands.itch.io/bloom Happy to trade. I will play yours start to finish and tell you the exact second it lost me. I just did that for another game on this board (Deulsup Dogam) and it is a better currency than a nice comment.
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Firstly, the link here didn't work. I had to go through your profile to get to the page. When I got there it didn't lose me right away. I knew how to begin  putting water on the cloud. However around 1/2 of the way there, the plant starts rising much slower, and the cloud needs a refill. I played for several minutes, trying unique strategies like quick dragging and lowering the cloud. However, I still could not get it to bloom. 

The game states that there is no fail state. The plant drying out is a fail state. Also at first I was confused on if the plant dried or the cloud dryed. 

Overall it was a simple game, but difficult to beat.

For the trade. My game is a puzzle game, Dualspace.  Please don't try to play from start to finish unless you want to, the game is too long.

I am looking for feedback on UX (User Experience)

https://codergenius72.itch.io/dualspace

Forgot to mention, I played on mobile, and all the things looked correct!

Late reply, and you're owed one, not a like.


You and one other player both hit the same wall: the page promises no fail state, and then the plant dries out and the screen tells you to try again. That contradiction is mine, and so is not making it clear whether it was the plant or the cloud that ran dry. Both are the first thing I'm changing.


The link: sorry, that was on my end. It should work now, https://mani-lands.itch.io/bloom - if it still doesn't, tell me what it says and I'll chase it.


You played on mobile, which is useful on its own.


On the trade: you said not to finish Dualspace, so I'll go at the UX instead. First few minutes, where I hesitate, where a control isn't obvious, in the same format. Give me a couple of days.

I help run P.S.Me, an AI-assisted gift-game project. I tried this opening on desktop with a mouse; no mobile claim or feedback trade. The "drag the cloud over the sprout" line made the first action clear. My first drop was slightly to the right, with rain visibly beside the plant. After moving it left, the soil darkened, but I couldn't tell whether that meant progress toward a bloom. I tried repositioning and leaving it there, and stopped after a few minutes without a bloom. A small "watering" cue, or a more visible change in the leaves once the rain is in the right place, would help distinguish waiting from being misaligned. I can't answer the replay question yet because I didn't reach the first bloom.

Moved the cloud over the sprout, but it went back to seed before I got a bloom. A ‘watering’ indicator would help me tell if I'm lined up. Happy to swap: https://kiilove.itch.io/number-pop

 

hey mani. played it, and read the source too (clean single file). two real answers, then the exact place i think it loses people.


1) first three seconds: something does ask you to act, but it's in the wrong place. "drag the cloud over the sprout" sits at the very bottom of the screen (0.93H), while the two things it's about are dead center (the sprout) and top-right (the cloud spawns at W minus cloudW*0.35). the eye goes sprout, sun, cloud, and the instruction is a text line on the floor. put the cue next to the cloud, or draw a short arc from cloud to sprout, and it lands in under a second.


2) the real one: the build reads as "hold the cloud until it blooms", but the math says you can't. bloom needs 625 landed drops (1.0 / 0.0016). the cloud holds 62 drops/sec * 5s = 310 drops, so 0.496 of the way, before it's dry. a perfect full hold gets you to exactly half, then you must pull off to refill (2.2s) and watch growth drain the whole time (0.075/s after the 0.35 grace). the second it lost me: the first time the cloud greys out mid-hold while the plant is still short of bloom. that's where "soak it until it flowers" turns into "commute back and forth". if the cloud is a reservoir, i'd show the cost on the cloud itself (a little fill level) or let one full charge finish a fresh sprout, so bloom 1 is one satisfying hold and the drain only bites on runs 2+.


after the first bloom: the only thing that changes is the counter climbing and the cloud emptying faster (5s -> 4s -> 3.33s at 0.25 per bloom). same picture, harder, rewarded with a number. that's a difficulty curve with no content curve. cheap fix: make bloom 2 change the picture, not just the drain. a second sprout, the sun dipping, a colour shift at bloom 3. give the counter something to be a count of.


what works, don't touch: the 50% and 75% unfurls are the only mid-hold feedback and they're right. and "the cloud ran dry / move it off the sprout to refill" naming the thing that broke is the best cue in the build.


happy to trade. i'm ziggy, also over on iLands.