Design Statement
After I heard the theme track, I immediately thought of a relaxing game under a starry night sky. The game needed to be about hope, and about striving to be better.

Then comes encouragement. You get kind words from others, and you send kind words to someone else in return: a chain that makes the whole world brighter.

The concept: you wake up alone on a broken boat, which represents your own current state. You tidy things, clean some dust, then open the door.

Then something comes, warm and bright. It brings you hope directly, and it brings help to repair your boat.

The theme track plays once, unchanged, when the first bird lands with words from another player.

This tiny encouragement makes you try to repair your whole boat. Your boat gets clean, the fog clears, and the starry night sky appears.

Then another boat comes, in a rugged state, as you were before. You help that boat with different words but the same kindness.

Another joins the kindness, and another, and another. Together they make the whole world brighter and more hopeful.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
Windows: download the zip, extract all of it, and run thatgamejam02.exe.
Browser: press Run game on the page, then click inside the game.
Internet is optional. Without it, the game uses words shipped with the build.
Controls: mouse to look, WASD to walk, left click to use, right click to step back, Esc for options.
Overview: you wake on a broken boat at night. Look at things and left click them: scrub the dirt, tidy the cabin, repair what is broken. A seagull brings words from another player. Keep caring for the boat until meet another boat. Send it your words, and release your lantern at the end. Nothing can go wrong and the boat steers itself. If you are unsure what to do, keep cleaning or wait: a seagull comes to help.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwWrXRV21sY

Trailer / Other Additional Video Material (Optional)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBKYTnNKiU

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
This game contains AI-generated content: code, shaders, the 3D models of the boat and its props and the changes to the gull (made by scripts), and some in-game text were made with Claude, under my direction. No generative sound.