itch.io

Really cute game! The environments look super polished for such a limited development time, the restaurant has so many cozy details and the scrolling backgrounds in the forest look great. The 2D character animations are very charming, though sometimes look a bit out of place against the surroundings which are lit much more dimly in comparison. The platforming was fun, though pressing space to fall down through a platform did not feel very intuitive. There was one instance where I fell and got stuck inside a tree root, but after spamming space bar enough times I was eventually able to jump out of it.

Cooking is what I had the most difficulty with. It felt cumbersome to have to first click an ingredient slot, then click an ingredient tab, then click an ingredient instance, and then press space all to select one ingredient. Ideally, multiple different ingredients would be displayed on a single tab, with each tab representing a broader ingredient category, and the need for pressing space to confirm a selection would be eliminated. Also, it felt much too easy to accidentally assign an ingredient to the incorrect preparation method, which caused me to waste ingredients on experimental dishes instead of the  recipe I was trying to make. I think the step of assigning a prep method could be done away with entirely, instead automatically putting the player into the correct prep step for each recipe ingredient like what is done in Cooking Mama.

Last bits of unorganized feedback:

• In the mixing prep step I was unable to tell how my performance affected the final rating---I seemed to always get "Good" no matter how much I stayed within the green
• The 3D player model looked lovely, but it was impossible to appreciate it fully when it was locked into a side perspective
• An impact sound when hitting enemies would make it clearer when attacks land or miss
• The glowing runes that appear when the player walks through the tree were a really nice touch!

I had fun with this little game overall, and I'm super impressed with everything that you were able to accomplish in such  a short timeframe. Great work!

My team made an interactive storybook called The Raven's Gift, if anyone still playing submissions would like to give it a try. :)

This is a beautiful game! I love the idea of collaboratively creating and nurturing a space with other players, where each action taken is documented and remembered. Each forest is a time capsule of the many small acts that added up to a meaningful whole, encouraging us not to take for granted the people (and other living things) around us. The sounds and music were quite calming. I think the ability to make the player sit and see the forest from different camera angles would enhance the experience. The limited color palette is very effective and pleasing to look at, but I think having the background + lighting color change dynamically with the time of day would be interesting to experience the forest in a different atmosphere. Having energy slowly replenish throughout the day instead of once per day would pair nicely with a sort of day/night cycle as well, so the player has a reason to check back more often.