itch.io

I am sorry that isn't yet very self-explanatory, so you aren't alone. The idea is you need to wrap a piece of cloth (just a rag will do) around the top of a piece of wood that is small enough to hold (have the stick or piece of wood on the crafting canvas, then drag over a rag and drop it on top, it will automatically wrap, more cloth burns longer). It then becomes a torch and can be lit. There are a few tutorial hints but they are easy to miss. This video I create several torches, see about 2:21 to get the idea.

Thank you! You figured out the secret ;)

Thank you! Yes, pacing I know is a core issue. I've experimented with multiple pacing options. Usually increasing how fast the day/night cycle is. The current iteration is well less than half the original design (the goal of which was to get the player to encounter at least part of a night out in the open between safe spots). But, I can see it needs to be sped up even more. It is a tricky system because the player can advance the clock with the campfires, and different players will play different sections faster or slower than others. I was worried that the game would be too difficult, so I kept the current system so that the day would be long enough for a player to do a little crafting and puzzling how to get past some obstacles before encountering the night with its waves of attackers. I wanted the player to be seeing the sinking sun and to be preparing themselves (torches ready, weapons prepared, trying to decide if they are going to hunker down where they are, maybe build a bonfire or two, or if they will make a desperate charge for the next refuge). The original design of the pass was non-linear with branching paths, so the player would have the opportunity to do more rewarding exploring (a tree to chop down here, a hot spring here, a hidden weapon or two there), but I ran out of time and kept it linear, and so yeah, it is unfortunate since you spend a few minutes walking through the day just walking to the right with the occasional obstacle and the game needs more. The best solution for now is probably just shortening the day/night cycle a bit again.

Thanks for playing, yes, I plan to continue this project to hopefully get it to where I originally envisioned: an open world story mode where you explore, gather, craft, and challenge foes. Plus, Smash Bros style local/online multiplayer with "weapon crafting" between rounds.

Thanks, that is helpful feedback! I realize the palisade hint and the axe sitting there (especially in the dark) would be confusing for many players. But, the idea is that you have to chop down the barrier much like you would an enemy by equipping the axe. Or, any weapon (even a hand crafted one) will probably be enough to get through it eventually, but the axe is the fastest, should only take a 2-4 solid swings. I'm going to add a few more tutorial hints to help clear this up.

Yes, definitely. Even though I had the original idea for this game long before I played Terraria, I've definitely been inspired by games like Terraria since. The core of the 2D physics and "arm swinging" idea came from Hammerfight. And the crafting was just something that I thought would be cool (crafting anything you want with individual pixels of materials and letting the physics influence how it behaves). I recall it was the first game project I seriously worked on, starting with me hand coding the crafting canvas and tools in C# in MonoGame over 16 years ago. I spent a year on the game and got burned out, I was working a minimum wage job and going to college and my wife at the time was getting worried about us paying the bills. So, I gave up game development and got a career.

Gosh, sorry for the life story. I am just very glad that AI tech has reached where it is now where I can finally realize dozens of dreams I've had in my head all these years. I have game design notebooks full of ideas like this. And, yet, even with AI there is still hardly enough time to realize them all.

Yes, the art style is a sore spot. I don't even have a walk animation, lol! The Octopath Traveller look is one I hadn't considered for this. But, that is a great idea to consider. I had thought about either classical woodblock or ukiyo-e style like Hokusai. I even did a Hokusai-style art for the cover. But, ultimately decided to go more Akira Kurosawa style instead.

Thanks, likewise :)

Thanks, that is helpful feedback. I think one of the issues is Bokken is just too ambitious a game for a jam prototype. I found myself playing around with the systems too much and increasing the depth without easing in players. Ghost Fire has a bit of an identity crisis since I built it on top of the Bokken foundation, but then took it in a different direction, making many of the system vestigial. Anyways, to someone who isn't experienced with the game (which is really only me and a select few friends and family) it reads as very convoluted. Part of it is that it is definitely not a game for everyone. The other part of it is I've done a bad job at making it accessible. I'm adding a guided tutorial for starting a fire. Bokken in general needs to be a larger game with a gentle design that eases players in by scaffolding each of the systems for them. And I plan to continue work on it. Glad you liked Ikuta '73 too, that is gratifying. That's another project that is high on my list to explore further.

I like the vibe and graphical style! Pretty fun gameplay once I got the hang of it. Nice job!

Gotta say, I was blown away by this one. Very well designed. I only had one minor issue: it wasn't clear to me (I think the prompts went by too quickly) at first how to light the fire (have to hold down the mouse or space), I kept just taping it once. Also, I don't always read so thoroughly these days so I sort of missed what was happening at first. But, that is on me. I sometimes skip story and exposition (especially since I'm trying to review many games) and I didn't realize at first that it was very important to the core of the gameplay here. Once I started understanding the game I started enjoying it more. Graphically, it is really beautiful. It is a sort of "choose your own adventure" where you play a sort of "middleman" in all these peoples' lives. Sometimes honesty isn't the best choice. Sometimes it is. I love that sort of guessing. Cozy and relaxing sort of game. Nice job! Here is a recording of my playtest.

Great use of the theme. Unexpected twist toward the end with some light puzzle solving and combat. I did have a bit of a graphical glitch which you'll notice as I start on the mountain path at the start of my playthrough. Not sure what happened there. I tried changing graphics settings. I don't think it was a shader warming issue... but who knows. I suspect it may have been the camera got stuck in the terrain? In any case, just when I was about to give up it righted itself. Hope the playtest video is helpful to you. (FYI, there is already a game called "Torchlight", popular Diablo-like ARPG on Steam/other platforms in case you plan to develop the idea further). 

Nice idea that fits the theme perfectly! I do love this graphical style too, reminds me of DREAMWILD. Nice job.

Unique use of the theme! Reminds me a bit of my own game, Transfer Window (https://plinthcybernetics.itch.io/transfer-window), but that doesn't have trading (yet). Reminded also a bit of Helium Rain which is a favorite. The soundtrack got a little repetitive after a while, but overall, not a bad game. It took me a little bit to figure out. Honestly, in space sims I never really choose trader, though I know other people enjoy that career, I just like to explore and fight usually, lol. But, I played for a while and started to figure it out towards the end, but had to stop to work on other stuff. Here is a recording of my playtest: 

First game I've rated, your cover just grabbed my attention for some reason. Reminded me actually of my own game's art style a bit. Gotta say, once I started I had to keep playing until I either won or was eliminated. It had great A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms vibe. Fun, simple, addictive gameplay. The between rounds felt good with having to make choices with scarce resources. The simple timing mini-game approach to the jousts was fun. The only thing I couldn't seem to figure out was the raising the shield part. I saw that come up very quickly after I hit the mark and was confused (how?). Seems stupid, after I finally was unhorsed in the 6th round (having never raised my shield cause I couldn't figure out how), I read the help and it explained it. I guess that makes sense, tap again when they strike. I think what threw me was how obvious everything else was, but there was no meter or such for that one thing, so having been trained to look for a timing meter, and having none confused me. That said, great job! I really enjoyed the game!

Very polished and nice looking game. Love the vibe. I had some difficulty playing though because it looks like the game is using the default very small frame size that Itch defaults to, and there is no full screen button. I had to zoom in my browser which only helped so much. Could I recommend adjusting your embed settings? I recommend setting a custom resolution to closely match your target resolution/aspect. And adding the "full screen button". Here is what I used for my project:

Yeah, I've since done a pass on the crafting UI/UX and adding hint text and an arrow or two to explain the crafting system on first inventory open. So, I hope that helps newer players once it is up. Unfortunately, this build is frozen and can only accept bugfixes, not new features for the sake of the game jam. I don't think new tutorial text probably qualifies as a bug. But, I'll have a new version to post on a separate page by the end of the week that should hopefully be improved. Thanks for playing it!

Yeah, I've since done a pass on the crafting UI/UX and adding hint text and an arrow or two to explain the crafting system on first inventory open. And better tutorial text in the early part of the game to help explain the basics better. But, I cannot add those features to this build as it is frozen for the game jam. But, thanks for playing, when I have the new build ready it'll get a new store page for continued development.

Hi Atlas, thanks for trying my game. Unfortunately, the game is only meant to be played in landscape orientation, that is pretty much a requirement due to the way the controls need to function (left and right screen "stick" style controls). I think I should have put a note on the page and in the game since you wouldn't know without trying it in landscape. It would be very difficult if not impossible to play in portrait mode (if you ended up on the inventory screen you would not have been able see the right side where inventory items are or the full text of the close button- button button there where you see the "cl"). If you have time and want to, I'd really appreciate you giving it another try in landscape orientation and see if it plays better. Appreciate the feedback and alerting me to this issue.

A cautionary tail about overengineering. Nice job!

Hey, great job! While I'm not super into "clickers" this one wasn't bad at all. It plays a bit like a Kerbal Space Program clicker would. Each little section is like a unique timing mini-game. Overall, you delivered a game that was well scoped, very polished, and has a nice presentation. And it subtlely teaches the player how to play without having to stop to consult a tutorial or help, that, to me, is the gold standard of player experience, something I failed to achieve with my own game unfortunately this time around.

Thank you so much! I left a comment on the video that probably sums it up best: but I'm sorry that I didn't explain the crafting system in the tutorial text. And I didn't revert the rule "you can't join parts of the same material" which I meant to only be temporary. I appreciate you struggling through. For anyone who stumbles on this: you have to put a honed tool (a sharp rock will do, you can also hone a rock yourself using another rock) in the tool slot, make sure you are on mark: carve, mark several spots, and then hit commit to create wood shavings. If you fell asleep at that explanation or are still confused, I don't blame you.

Thank you for giving it a try!

I was drawn to this right away being a fellow DCC fan. I knew instantly from the cover what I was in for. Gotta say, for the hands off/burn the tokens approach this produced a pretty functional game. Sure, there are some minor graphical issues and artifacts here and there, but the UI is polished and functional, and there seems to be a fair bit of content, though didn't have time to play past the 2nd floor. Love the idea. I've been thinking of making a DCC-inspired game myself and you beat me to it! But, I'll probably still give it a go on my own one day. Thanks for sharing this!

Very polished, love the music and art especially! I'm intrigued by the way you used AI for it with the team of agents. I've heard of that approach but never had much success with it myself (this time I used 2 "agents" in parallel, Lane P for Physics, Lane W for World, but they were still mostly generalists). How did you like it? How did you ensure each lane's context focus and specialization in its particular area if you don't mind sharing?

Thanks! Yes, strength is actual a stat in the game behind the scene. The player has 100 of it, and some foes have less, some have more influencing how heavy a weapon they can effectivel handle. If I make this into a full game the stats can grow through use. Thanks for playing!

Thank you so much for the kind words! Yes, I think people didn't see the connection to the jam theme unfortunately. Which, is probably my fault for building the underlying systems and waiting till the very end for the stamina/human battery system (recharges in the shade, drains in the sun). The "Theme" rating suffered as a result. But, such is life. I'd like to get back to this project and flesh it out into a full game, but I got a bit distracted with other projects. One day for sure!

Thank you so much! And thanks for hosting the game jam! It was my first and a great experience!

Thanks! Turned out better than I expected and I want to do more with it!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! Yeah, the grass is the biggest GPU burner for sure. Did you try the Settings -> Grass Density slider? At 0 it should fall back to the old grass shader which doesn't render actual blades and saves heavily on performance (though, it hardly looks like grass).

Thank you for giving it a try and for the great feedback. This game surprised me with how much I enjoyed just sitting down and playing it while I was playtesting it. I'd often find myself finishing lawns over and over again. Definitely want to flesh this out into something bigger while keeping the core of what makes it enjoyable.

Thank you for playing and for the great feedback! I was wondering when I'd run into a fellow Murakami fan. Yes, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (as it is called at least in my country) is one of my favorite Murakami short stories (and later novels). It was partial inspiration for this. And I especially want to incorporate a find the cat, Noboro Watanabe, as a side quest when I do the full game. The main inspiration was The Last Lawn of the Afternoon, one of Murakami's other popular short stories. Unfortunately for me, I am out of Murakami material to read, having read every short story and novel he has written (fiction and non-fiction) that has been translated to English. But, this is an opportunity to explore my love for writing in another form. And for me to work on my own writing skills (something I feel the AI just doesn't do well, at least for me).

For me, mowing lawns takes me back to my youth since that was my chore growing up. And, what you did was not unrealistic. When handling a push mower it is typical to use wheelies to go back and forth on rows, and sometimes to go back and forth to go over areas again. I used to handle some sections of our lawn going back and forth. There is actual a sort of simple pleasure in approaching mowing a particular lawn as an "efficiency puzzle" which I think gives the game a simple sort of mental pleasure. The other part of it is the "Zen" of simple doing something. Appreciate your feedback. I know I need an extra hint in the first level that when you hit a wall to remind the player that they can do a wheelie for quick turns. I plan to add that eventually.

I as struggling to see where I would "attach" when clicking. I found it easy just to play via "trial and error" by just clicking randomly and seeing what happened. Also, couldn't figure out for a while what I was supposed to be hitting until I happened to smash into one of the green planets by accident. But, I do like the gravity slinging concept. Graphics were nice and the idea has a lot of potential!

Thank you! Yes, the grass actually getting cut and laid on the lawn was the original plan (not just "disappearing"). Slowing the mower while cutting is an idea I'll have to try. The bamboo basket/bucket was intended to be used to pickup trash, rocks, and grass clippings for dumping, but I ran out of time and it is only "sitting" in each scene unusable at the moment. Really, would take probably 30 minutes of work to make it pick up the rocks while held like I had planned, but it keeps being put off and continually sits as the 2nd or 3rd item on my roadmaps, lol.

Thanks! My original strict design rule was "minimal UI". But, a friend told me it was just way to hard to use the shears to clip the grass, I finally caved and put a clear UI element. I may go back sometime and change it to a soft glow on the grass cell. But, the lock on circle works for the time being.

Doh! I can't believe I didn't notice the very obvious button (even though I looked for it). I think it was because I was scrolled too far down and the top of the screen was cut off so I missed it. But, yes, I enjoyed it anyways. Now I can go play it again while enjoying the text! And thanks for checking out my game too!

Neat idea! Love the silly office weapons and enemies. Procedural levels is a nice touch. Hope you don't mind me offering a couple suggestions:

1. I couldn't figure out how to full screen the game and resolution looks like it was using the itch.io default which is really low making it hard to see. I had to zoom in my browser to be able to read the text. But, after that I was able to play it. I suggest adding a full screen button and upping the default resolution to something more legible.
2. The controls are a bit archaic and hard to use. I had to dust off my old school Wolfenstein 3D and Doom skills from when I used to play those games before I owned a mouse, lol. Of course, after I got a mouse, it was a total game changer and I never went back. I'm not sure how easy it is to do with your game engine of choice, but I'd suggest adding mouse+WASD controls at least. And if you can, it usually isn't too hard to get the AI to add in controller/gamepad support which is nice for people like me with really bad arthritic hands.

Pretty simple, solid, and fun. I played it to the end! Can't go wrong with a game with physics and explosions and mayhem.

Overall pretty good. Nice presentation and graphics, simple gameplay, easy to figure out. I have two cents you can take with a grain of salt: 1) it is missing what I consider the core of classic Lunar Lander (which I feel like this game was trying to channel, but with "more going on"): that delicate balance of gravity and thrust. In classic Lunar Lander the primary challenge isn't dodging asteroids, but just trying to balance the forces so that you land your delicate craft. In this case, there is a lot of "drag" on your ship so it slows down naturally as if it is in an atmosphere, and the terminal velocity is not enough to damage your craft from a hard landing. I was able to enjoy the game more by understanding that you weren't trying to recreate a more complex Lunar Lander, you were trying to make a game about dodging asteroids and dealing with "gravity wells" of moons, planets, stars, black holes while landing. 2) the gravity wells on later levels make the game practically impossible (possibly unwinnable). On the fifth level I had a black hole directly above the landing zone, I couldn't get anywhere near it without the ship getting thrown across the screen.

Loved it! Super catchy song, creative with a great hook. And it was fun to play little "guitar hero" rhythm game.

Thanks for the feedback and for playing it!