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Thank you for sharing!

Actually you control the penguin with WASD. I will double check that the mouse point and click controls are disabled.

I am speaking only for myself (personal opinion) - the idea of game jams is to try out ideas and get feedback.  I've been to many game jams (started this year) and this is perhaps the first submission I see focused entirely on graphical realism.

The choice of making a large Windows build already limits the accessibility of the game => smaller amount of players who are going to give you feedback. By using high polygon assets you limit that pool of potential players further. Disclaimer: I could not play much because of lag which was most probably caused by running the game in a sandbox (in other words I make no comment on how optimised the game is). 

So before we even get to the important part - your ideas, there is already a very small portion of players who can access the game to give you feedback. 

Unity is a popular and proven technology. What matters is how you use it. What is the creative idea? You wrote that the main goal is to have the player sail to an island and then walk inside the island (movement from point A to B). What distinguishes your game from other pirate/sailing games?

I advise you to strive for graphical realism only after players have validated a stylised version of the game. 

Good luck!

I'm not a Unity dev - so I might be wrong. But it's a fairly simple operation with JavaScript so I assume that it should be possible with Unity too. And from a cursory Google search it seems that it is.

Good luck!

I would say this is more of a toy or instrument than a game. Definitely a unique submission for this jam. Thank you for making this!

At first I was playing it on the web page but the menus were cluttered - once I opened it in full screen mode it got fixed. 

It would be nice to be able to export to an MP3/4 file to listen to later. I found that you can convert a Unity Audio Clip to a byte array and export it using the “audio/wav” mimetype.

Maybe in a bigger version of this game it would be possible for players to share files, maybe even make it into a rhythm game?

Good luck!

Hey, sorry to hear that you got stuck. 

You can reload the page, open the settings and turn on the sound, open the levels menu and select level 3. It is straightforward - notice the audio visual signals, press [E] to dig and click on a mine to clear it. Thank you for playing!

The implementation needs more work. For example - the pathfinding didn't work (in my playsession?). Instead of going through the opening, the whale tried to go through the wall (like it is trying to reach the target in the most direct way without understanding that there are obstacles).

Nevertheless it's an interesting concept. You should continue working on it. Good luck!

Thank you, Arreles.

I am going to make the interaction area larger. 

And I'll start troubleshooting the transition between the levels - I guess it escaped my playtests because I know when the area is going to change and  don't make the character move. :D

Thank you for sharing the exercises you find useful. 

I think you could integrate some of them more into the virtual world - like for example "Name 5 things you see" can be turned into a small point and click game. Another opportunity - 3 things about hearing. The other senses are physical and not relevant to a video game.

The same applies to the breathing exercise - it could be a small video game. Maybe even include microphone sounds - I have been researching that option and will come back to it some day.

This is not criticism but a challenge to do more. I think there are a lot of (mobile,web) self-help apps, including the famous SuperBetter which was among the first, that fail at making the exercises actionable and instead rely on self reporting. But video games are a medium that is more interactive! It has a lot of potential to be very impactful. Unfortunately game studios predominantly focus on violence but we as indie developers can and are changing that little by little. There should be more games that include such useful exercises as those you refer to.

Good luck and keep going!

Thank you for playing and sharing your impressions!

"creepy in a good way" <== Hmm, this is the first time I'm hearing that... In what way is the atmosphere creepy? Maybe the top down character models are a bit too dark for the story but that's what I could find on Craftpix.

Really? Wow, you did fantastic for your first game! Congratulations - achievement unlocked! ;)

This is a well made survival and crafting game - thank you! 

It's nice that you included a "How to play" section within the game.

I hit a bug where after I got away from the tab and returned the pointer did not get recaptured and I could not look around. But then I opened the crafting menu (Tab) the pointer was recaptured.

It is nice that the purifier, the grill and the beacon are also light sources - a mechanical way to uplift (keep up the spirits). 

I was relieved that the character was about to be saved + the repeating alarm of the beacon => I ignored his thirst and he died 30 seconds before the help arrived. This caused the ending to have the opposite effect of uplifting. You can see on the image the activated beacon in the background.

I'm thinking this can be avoided if either the thirst and hunger needs get suspended when the beacon is activated or make them as noticeable as the alarm of the beacon.

Mechanically the game is well made, but I don't think it manages to evoke positive feelings... Maybe that is why there are 8 ratings but no comments? Personally, I'm not bothered, but I guess you can make the game even more uplifting by including some appropriate music and more "juice" when beating the odds - for example when placing the purifier, grill and beacon play some cheerful tune, render some cool animated UI, etc. 

Good luck!

Oh, congratulations on your first game - achievement unlocked! :D

Thank you for playing! 

After the jam I'm planning to make the protagonist have a thought bubble to indicate that s/he should speak with the NPC.

A kind reminder that there is a level select which you can use. I made it in the hope that if someone got stuck they would use it to see the rest of the game.

Definitely there is always more polish that can be added. I'm working on it.

I also made my game engine in straight JS - you can check out my game. I think you were streaming on Discord but I missed it...

Anyways - apologies for diverting the attention.

Thank you for this game. It's awesome that you made everything yourself.

I wonder why you classify it as an RPG...

This is the first jam I'm participating in that asks participants how many games they can rate. And I think the amount of ratings is higher than the average jam. 

Is there a correlation? I believe so - because when asked openly about it people commit to it => they put more effort. Well done! I think it is useful for everyone.

Ah, I see. Nudging me into ever more reviews! :D 5, 15, 25... 74? Maybe I will beat my personal record.

You combined elements in such a way that the whole is larger than the sum of its parts. Well paced, the level design was constantly shifting keeping up the challenge.

Near the end, by introducing to the player the text "overcome fear" you set the expectation that what follows is dangerous which is a clever trick to evoke a specific interpretation of the aesthetics. 

The final part managed to merge the identities of the player and the character - what was suspected was uncovered but was that the motivation or was it the journey itself? Introducing a seemingly important choice at the very end is another clever trick - this time used to invite replaying.

One potential game breaking bug - I naively made the character collect all the heavy creatures and he just could not move. There was no way of knowing that would be the consequence. So I quickly thought to press E to drop them but since they dropped on the same spot the next time he returned, the character picked all of them at once getting himself overburdened again. After a few loops the items fell through the ground and luckily fell near whey they needed to be. I think an easy solution to this would be to limit how many of them the character can carry at a time.

Thank you for this experience. Good luck!

Thank you for playing!

Oh, that sounds like quite the adventure - the travelling debater!

Yes, that is the main loop - perform basic actions to gain power and then use that power with advanced actions to move the conversation forward to completion.

About the sheep - please keep in mind that you are not pushing them but rather pulling them. They will go in the direction you are facing (up, down, left, right). I plan to make the shepherd NPC appear and assist after X minutes.

Just a kind reminder - you can select the levels. In case you got stuck on level 1 you can continue to level 2 which has a more elaborate mode of dialog (trust building) or level 3 which contains a surprise mini game.

Yes, there are a few systems in the back end. My ambition is to create a full fleged RPG focused on social interaction. I'm slowly getting there.

You're welcome and stay tuned for a new game in October! I wish you a bright day.

Thank you for the game - it's got a chill athmosphere. I was thinking it would be spooky, creepy or scary but I don't think it is (well, I did not manage to progress much so I might be wrong).

A couple of notes from me:

About going foward and going back - if I go foward and enter the new corridor, then turn around and check the door it says go forward again. It can be confusing because it is constant rather than relative. Maybe it would be more clear to name them "Closer" and "Further" to the targer room. Or maybe that would be confusing as well? Ah, maybe it's because the doors as a mechanic combines two things - movement and assertion. If they are separate it would be a more streamlined experience. Like pausing the game or entering  a special mode to input if the player believes there is an anomaly.

The notification "You missed something" appears whenever a mistake is made. But the mistake may be false positive - thinking that there is an anomaly when there isn't. In that case it's not missed but imagined. Maybe it would be more clear to add - "Your observation did not match" or something like that.

Good luck!

Nice game - challenging but fun! The thumbnail could be more exciting to reflect the game itself.

About the iframe size - it's easy to fix by setting the height.

One minor issue - when the ship is at the top of the screen it goes behind the toolbar. Considering how much stuff is going on on the screen, this can be disorienting.

Good luck!

Cool game, thank you.

Perhaps it would be more clear to make the bright time of day after the rocks switch a little longer to be able to orient. The animation of waves crashing on the rocks is a critical addition - the game would have been irritating without it.

It's also fantastic that you put options for the ship speed and beam width. It would be great to include a setting for the screen brightness too.

I got in a few situations where the large ship was bouncing off rocks from the left and the right. I think it was around 30 bumps - can a ship sink? I think it's just keeping track of the bumps - as far as I can see there are no bad consequences... I don't think a ship can go backwards even though that is a natural reaction (and they can go backwards in real life). Is it worth adding? Maybe if the bumps have an impact on the score.

"The largest ship comes home last. It always does."<== No, it didn't in the game! :P

Good luck!

Thank you for this silly game - had a good time!

One suggestion from me: it would be easier to read if you separate the screens for the controls: mouse+keyboard or gamepad.

It is an interesting decision to make the character move at the bottom of tiles, not the center... I'm curious to know what is the thinknig behind it.

I assume you are fans of RPGs - I invite you to try my game. I'm trying to innovate how social interaction works in games. Would appreciate your feedback on it.

Thank you for this game! The messages from real people are a nice touch.

One suggestion: when there is a message in a bottle, pause the game and remove the event listeners for the hook. This is in line with your design goal of making the game relaxing and the player slowing down.

Good luck!

Well made - good work!

One minor thing - at the beginning the hole in the ground and the "trash can" are next to each other. At first I confused the two. Maybe if it was only the "trash can" without holes around it, that would be more clear.

There were nice touches - that corals glow in the dark, that "trash cans" get filled up and blocked by a starfish.

Thank you for the game. Good luck!

I have rated more than 15 games but the queue keeps changing and I cannot complete it. It's sad because I cannot rate the games I prefer to rate - to give support.

Please advise.

I see this is your first game on Itch - congratulations! Achievement unlocked :D

That rock did NOT want to go down, I had to do weird zig zag maneuvers to get it in place. You might want to consider reworking that part.

Other than that - a very aesthetically pleasing game. Thank you! Good luck

I see that you put the effort into making all the assets - congratulations.

The slots for putting the people are barely visible - consider putting frames. The insitctive understanding I had at first was to put the person on top of the obstacle. 

I should be able to swap the characters. But for that to be possible you would need either to make each slot a container of two slots for each person or some other design.

I managed to get the right combination through trial and error (thanks to the smiley emoji feedback). I saw your first comment with a matrix - but where is it? It's not on the Itch page, not inside the game. This game needs some onboarding.

The obstacles change too quickly... It might be better to spawn one turtle, then the player clears the track (once cleared the obstacles are gone). If the turtle perishes or reaches the end, then spawn the next turtle. It may sound too slow but with some playtesting you can adjust the speed.

Overall, the game is in too rough a shape to be playable. I wonder if you can take a video of yourself playing it?

Good luck!

Thank you for this game. I like that you included a lot of sailing terms (not that I know them all) - it fleshes out the atmosphere of the game.

"no account and no install" <== sounds like what you would say to people when marketing a web app. For web games this is the standard (and the expectation). No need to mention it.

It would be nice to be able to see from the world map what is in the hold - pointerover the asset icon would open a tooltip. As it is now the player is required to memorise the graphics which does not sound too difficult but it is one of all the things that needs to be learned when starting to play the game for the first time.

Clicking on one of the icons while in the port resulted in losing that cargo. That was disappointing. It's better to open a warning window and ask for confirmation.

It's nice that you include a statistics screen at the end:

Good luck!

It's a nice game, thank you.

I have to say - the sound waves were a pain to watch (literally an eye strain). For me they served nothing else but to make the game harder. Maybe if there is a higher resolution image that problem would disappear.

I think the decision to use the seaweed for both healing and scoring made the game too easy. If you separate the two (decouple) it would be more challenging => more engaging.

Let's image for a moment that this is a full game, not a prototype. The current way the game works would be one of the modes - an endless mode. For the default gameplay a more interesting mode would be to have levels with some predetermined score to pass the level. And ideally add some leveling up system to upgrade the turtle - speed, hit points, etc. Basically the design of the game would follow a stepwise difficulty curve - each level would be more difficult but the turtle would be more capable.

Possibly - you can make the different items fall with different speeds. That would make it more interesting. Right now it seems everything falls with the same constant rate. Maybe the first (or two or three) level(s) can be with a constant speed. But then switch it up.

To be honest I intentionally made the turtle die (yes, a horible thing!). Just to see the end screen and be done with the game. I mean - I also hit pause but I needed to see how the game finishes too!... please don't disqualify me...

Good luck!

A surprisingly agile squid! Thank you for the game and the laughs.

I think a more expanded version of this game would benefit from having the right mouse button cancel the current charge and to be able to reset from the last platform (yes, that would make the game somewhat easier but also - less frustrating).

What's with the horses?? :D

Ooooh, C++ - you've got skillz! 

Good luck! I am interested to see what game you make next.

Awesome! I also made a custom engine - I did it because I'm doing something that has not been done before (innovating). You can check out my game. What is/are the reason(s) why you create your own engine?

I haven't seen this Hive Engine before - is it custom?

I went down and lit all the lamps I could see. What else am I supposed to do? Opening the journal seems not to work. I guess I need to somehow replenish the lantern - but how?

Thank you for this game. The menus are very polished, that's quite impressive!

I appreciate that you put the effort into adding the latin names and factual data. I'm trying to think if there's a way to make each reveal more unique... Maybe if the information container shows first only the image of the shell and after some miliseconds show the data?

Not sure how you tested the game but it seems that to unlock the next beach would require finding 500 shells before I can see the next beach. 100 shells ~= 6000 gold.

 It can get tedious to click five hundred times (not counting swiping the sand)... Maybe it's just me.

Good luck!

Hey, PGad! In the first level (private property field) you need to talk with the man in front of the house. This triggers a mini game. After you complete the mini game you need to speak with that person again. Then you open the inventory and click on the mobile phone. Finally you speak with the deminer to proceed to the second level.

The first part is like a cutscene which needs your input to move along. It's linear because it serves only to set the story and show parts of the dialog system. You will see that all the other meetings you are not resicted.

Cool game, thank you for making it.

A few notes: I could not go back to the main menu from the about page - had to reload the page. I don't believe you need a button to quit the game for the browser version. 

Your answer to "how the game fits the uplifting theme?" sounds like an answer for the ocean theme actually. Maybe after the jam you can introduce something additional to make it more uplifting.

Good luck!

"submitted 1 minute before the deadline" <== Oh, brother! You risked a lot! You know you can submit your Itch page without any content on it, right?

I think the web build is broken. Am planning to try the windows build later... Reloaded and it works!

Good effort. Based on the description I assume you put a lot of effort into the setting and the narrative (worldbuilding). That is fantastic. One small problem is that the introduction feels like an exposition dump - a bit too much. I always recommend this GDC talk because it's excellent: 

It seems the whale is moving in the opposite direction of the whirlpool which breaks the immersion a bit. It's also a minor issue.

I think I got stuck on the second map - moved in all the directions I could but I could not find that warlus.

The first conversation is linear/scripted - there is no way to make a mistake. There is onboarding in the game - there are a few tutorials in the other conversations.

Because I didn't want to bombard the player with too much stuff at the beginning. You can select only the right action (the other actions turn red and nothing happens when you click them). You chose what is important to remember. If I put explanations you might think all of it is somehow important. It is, but not at the start. Think of the start as a storyboard.