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A jam submission

purr or treat: the midnight reefView game page

a little sea kitten. a reef full of halloween trouble. one shy ghost who needs a friend.
Submitted by Tsukuyom — 7 hours, 45 minutes before the deadline
Rated by 14 people so far
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purr or treat: the midnight reef's itch.io page

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How does your game interpret and use the Theme / Halloween?
purr or treat takes the theme somewhere gentle. when the coral clock strikes midnight the reef wakes into an underwater halloween. mochi the sea kitten follows lanterns and a moonlit scent through trick or treating and bubble magic. the strange visitor waiting in the pumpkin wreck is a shy ghost who needs a friend.

the midnight tide brings secrets and little wonders that are absent by day. helping the neighbours and making a costume for the ghost leads everyone towards the midnight parade. what only comes out at night is not just a ghost. it is a whole reef finding a reason to celebrate together.

Game Engine?

Unity

Game Engine / Tools (Other)?
unity 6 and c#

Have you participated in a game jam before this one?

Yes

Roughly how much time did you spend developing? (in hours)
28

Anything else you'd like to share about your game or development process?
i wanted a halloween adventure where being curious matters more than being brave. mochi can help with small problems and make an unlikely friend. bubble magic gives the kitten a playful way to touch the world. the parade brings those little encounters back together.

there are moon candies and stickers to find if you want to wander. if you lose the trail press q for a little guidance or open the reef journal with tab. fullscreen with a keyboard and mouse is recommended.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Mochi is adorable! I love the idea of going trick-or-treating as a sea kitten. The glowing reef and all the little pumpkins make it feel so cosy. 🎃 If you have a moment, we’d love for you to try our jam entry and give it a rating too!

Submitted(+1)

This is such a beautiful game! Every corner of the reef looks lovely, and the sound is really, really good, it makes swimming around so relaxing. I’ll definitely be coming back to explore more of it. Congrats!

Submitted(+1)

There’s a lot of polish here, especially for a jam project. The reef has a consistent cartoon style, quite a few distinct areas to explore, and lots of small animations and character reactions that make the world feel alive. Little touches like the crab getting startled and digging into the ground stood out.

The music and sound effects fit the setting well too.

The swimming controls were one of the strongest parts for me. Having separate controls for moving up and down, along with the faster movement and mouse look, gave me a lot of control over navigating the water. Moving around felt comfortable, and I didn’t run into collision problems during my time exploring.

I also really liked how smoothly the game transitions into its activities.

Walking up to the pinball table, interacting, and immediately using A and D for the flippers and Space for the launcher felt natural. The table layout and the way it played made that a highlight for me. Bowling was less satisfying because I had trouble aiming and controlling where the ball went. Clearer feedback about the launch direction would have helped me there.

Where I struggled was staying engaged with the main activity loop. Collecting candy, returning the scattered baked goods, and finding the missing clock parts gave me plenty of things to do, but the collection-and-return tasks started to feel routine.

Relaxed exploration is outside what I usually gravitate toward. I tend to get more invested when an activity gives me a skill to develop or a problem to figure out, which is part of why the pinball stood out. I would have enjoyed seeing the bubble mechanic develop into more involved tasks as I progressed.

The trick-or-treating and candy collecting gave it a clear Halloween identity. The specific connection to “it only comes out at night” was less apparent to me during the portion I played.

I also experienced a significant stability issue.

Across roughly an hour and a half to two hours of play, the browser suddenly closed on me around six times. Each time I had to reopen it and load the game again. The cause was unclear, but it repeatedly interrupted the experience. This was unusual compared with the other browser-based jam games I’ve been playing.

Solid experience! Outside of stuff I usually play, but I can appreciate the polish and attention to detail.

Submitted(+1)

This game was such a treat to my eyes. I loved every bit of it. It has nostalgic type of atmosphere reminds me of some old games with the same graphic. Cozy open world is the best. I like games with closed space open areas and under the sea gave me exactly that. All the little bits n pieces that needs improvement are for later and right now I can overlook it because I enjoyed every bit of it. 10/10 from me

Submitted

This is very big game :O good graphics and music and everything. Did you make it all on your own? I think this is very good, Keep on coding. Got no suggestions cause this is pretty completed game :D

Submitted

So much content! Did you make all the assets yourself or did you use AI or downloaded ones? I love this kind of open game where you can explore and go everywhere you want. The purr mechanic is very nice  even though I was stuck at the end and couldn't complete the ghost's outfit and it looked like the trail didn't guide me where I needed to go.

Submitted

Same. I couldnt find the pumpkin hat but eventually found it after doing purr nearby the ghost

Submitted(+1)

so cute! 

its the most cozy game I played in a while

Being able to explore the sea floor as a cat-aqua creature is a nice touch. and that swimming is really nice

Submitted(+1)

Swimming as Mochi the little blue sea kitten through the quiet reef felt lovely, with a sandy path to follow and a goal to investigate the old Coral Clock. The reef and the kitten look beautiful. My constructive note is that the first load stayed on a dark Waking the reef screen for a long time, so a clearer loading message would help players know the game is starting.

Developer (1 edit)

thanks for the feedback! :) Im glad you liked Mochi and the reef

And yeah the loading screen could definitely be better I didnt really think about how confusing it might be when it stays dark for too long. A progress bar or even some little animation would probably help a lot.

appreciate you pointing that out!

Submitted(+1)

my fellow 3d developer, i liked your game, you did a lot with all this events, and the atmosphere is really relaxing. It make me remember some 64 adventure games when i was playing.

Developer

thanks man! :) really glad you enjoyed the game!

I spent quite a bit of time working on the little events and trying to make the reef feel alive. The atmosphere was one of my main priorities so its nice to hear that you found it relaxing.

appreciate you playing and leaving a comment! :)

Submitted(+1)

What a super cute game i realy enjoyed playing it. The charakters look sweet as hell and swimming around was such a cozy expiriance. Thanks for your fun entry.

Developer(+1)

aww thank you!! Im really happy you liked the characters. I wanted this one to be more cute and cozy than scary even though its a Halloween jam haha.

glad you had fun swimming around with Mochi! thanks for giving it a try :)