itch.io

After several weeks of playing, I can say this is my favorite nonogram game.  It's got cute pixel graphics that remind me of early Pokemon games, lots of exploration and scenery to discover, and the puzzles are challenging without being frustrating.  There's even a nice little storyline to discover!  The music is rather repetitive and there's no option to turn it off (as far as I can discover), but aside from that, this game was wonderful!  Thanks so much for making it!

A very fun adaptation.  I have vague memories of playing a stand-alone knockoff of this based around two ant colonies fighting, but I never had a chance to play the 'original' game until now!

How many different endings are possible and how would you rank them?  (Without spoilers, I guess.)  I got what I thought was a good, hopeful one, but it didn't seem like the ultimate 'best' ending.  More a natural, 'well, things look much better, but there's still work to be done!' sort of ending. 

Finished the game in just over a week of regular gameplay!  I got what I suppose is a pretty good ending, though I don't know if it's the best one, since I don't actually know if other endings are possible.  

Some final thoughts: 

I felt a little frustration in the necessity of backtracking and revisiting areas, particularly in late game when save points become very rare.  There are also a few late-game quests that are difficult to achieve compared to the reward they provide.

But, these are very minor detriments to the game.  Graphics are stellar, with a lot of lively detail, especially given the Game Boy limitations.  The characters are engaging, and some of them quite fun, so that befriending them feels natural and rewarding, with a tone similar to Undertale.  Music is pretty good, a touch repetitive but I never felt bored by it.  Sound effects are basic, but serviceable enough.  The storyline had enough mystery and plot development to feel good enough to draw the player in to continue to learn more.  Dialogue is quite natural and sometimes pretty funny.  The puzzles aren't too complex, but do force you to think through some actions and keep some notes.  While I only played through once, there seems to be enough flexibility in the custom character design to fit a few different styles of play. 

Overall, this was incredibly entertaining-- if a game like this had been released during the actual Game Boy era, it would have been a smash hit.  Nothing in the game was jarring, or out of place, or felt forced, and I never felt like I was wasting my time aside from the (occasional) late game backtracking.  You've really got something special here!  I saw your retrospective post on feeling a little deflated, but given what work you must have put in, that's only to be expected.  But believe me, this really is one of the best homebrew games I've ever seen for Game Boy.  Thanks again for making this!

I thought it might be something like that!  I really like the vibe of the game so far, very friendly and encourages exploration.

So far I am!  I do think I might have found a bug, however-- when the game first started, I was having to manually center the little action slider when it was moving in combat (like in Undertale), but after a little while, it vanished and suddenly all my attacks are automatic?  I saw there was an option to turn this on and off in the game (a character at an inn explained manual versus automatic), but I never changed it to automatic in the options and when I look it's showing that as still turned off.  Is this a bug or does it swap to automatic when you've filled up your SP bar?  

What timing!  I happen to search Itch for exploration games and find this gem one day after release!  I've already started playing and I love the art and design work you put into it.  Open world exploration with custom character design?  Just the kind of RPG I like!  Thanks so very much for this game!

!  Wonderful little game!  Combining an overworld to explore with the puzzles makes it very rewarding to solve the next nonogram and unlock a new location/event/object.  I'm only about 60 puzzles in, so, I still have a long way to go, but I can't wait to discover it all!  Thank you for making this!

Bloody amazing work, again.  Still a bit buggy for the beta test (naturally) but the work you've put in stuns me.  I've got a lot of new cards to learn, it seems!

Not disappointing at all!  Glad to know I'm not missing out on any content at least.  The rest of the game is so well designed that I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything!

Thanks!

What an amazing demake!  I love that you even got permission to use assets from the original game.  Playing the Android port now, and I just beat Royal as the end boss, really fun battle.  May I ask-- the ????? selection on the main screen, what is it intended to do and how do I unlock it?  I've played several challenge modes and so far nothing.

Thanks again for making this, fantastic work!