itch.io

Thank you, that worked! I've been looking to try this game for a while.

Hi! I'm running into an error when attempting to run the game on a Mac. Full error below. When I navigate to .../autorun/game/track, I do not see a folder named "covers". The "track" folder only contains a file named "Put Music Files Here". Maybe this folder is supposed to be generated and it isn't?

Thanks in advance!

[code]

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:

  File "game/manualtracks.rpy", line 5, in script

    init python:

  File "game/manualtracks.rpy", line 7, in <module>

    import ost

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/private/var/folders/4f/4mrcm_hj7056n7fpq02hr7xm0000gp/T/AppTranslocation/269F4791-9DCC-4D3A-88AE-84A31DAA0CC0/d/detached.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/game/track/covers'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:

  File "game/manualtracks.rpy", line 5, in script

    init python:

  File "/private/var/folders/4f/4mrcm_hj7056n7fpq02hr7xm0000gp/T/AppTranslocation/269F4791-9DCC-4D3A-88AE-84A31DAA0CC0/d/detached.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/ast.py", line 823, in execute

    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)

  File "/private/var/folders/4f/4mrcm_hj7056n7fpq02hr7xm0000gp/T/AppTranslocation/269F4791-9DCC-4D3A-88AE-84A31DAA0CC0/d/detached.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/python.py", line 1178, in py_exec_bytecode

    exec(bytecode, globals, locals)

  File "game/manualtracks.rpy", line 7, in <module>

    import ost

  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1007, in _find_and_load

  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 986, in _find_and_load_unlocked

  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 664, in _load_unlocked

  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 627, in _load_backward_compatible

  File "/private/var/folders/4f/4mrcm_hj7056n7fpq02hr7xm0000gp/T/AppTranslocation/269F4791-9DCC-4D3A-88AE-84A31DAA0CC0/d/detached.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/loader.py", line 876, in load_module

    exec(code, mod.__dict__) # type: ignore

  File "python-packages/ost.py", line 660, in <module>

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/private/var/folders/4f/4mrcm_hj7056n7fpq02hr7xm0000gp/T/AppTranslocation/269F4791-9DCC-4D3A-88AE-84A31DAA0CC0/d/detached.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/game/track/covers'

macOS-10.16-x86_64-i386-64bit x86_64

Ren'Py 8.2.0.24012702

detached 0.10.0

Tue Apr  9 07:38:38 2024

[/code]

Cool game! I appreciate the different take to combat, although it tends to focus on matching numbers of orbs. I couldn't tell why characters dealt random numbers of damage from turn to turn. But, every part of this proof of concept game looks great; can't wait to see more!

It’s actually a pretty good premise. Massage based games are rare. 

Neat game! I was able to solve it all blind, although entering the server reboot threw me for a loop. I couldn't figure out what to do after reopening the game after completion, though... but I'm happy to leave it there. 

There are some parts which feel like they were not translated very well, which interfere a little bit with understanding. It makes me wonder if there's additional details about what's happening in the narrative that I couldn't understand. But, I'm happy to break the equation and call the game done.

That town music is a lot of fun!

No idea, but it's what I did too!

Man, this game has a wonderful aesthetic and vibes, but the bartending and conversations feel very slow and grindy. Being asked a person's height but both options being 0.1 feet apart isn't a very exciting conversation or set of choices. Hope to see some updates there one day, because again, the art is great!

Impressive game! I appreciate that the combat system is simple but still has interesting choices. It takes some time to understand many of the available talents and especially the residents' abilities, but the game has a very strong beginning and it's good to introduce these details gradually.

Yeah, it was not anywhere near that fast :D

Take your time! And, I can share my save file and character if you're interested or if you think something might be overpowered. It's primarily just a bunch of earth abilities, with slightly fewer ongoing effects due to the increased activation costs in this version.

I enjoyed the big brawl at the Deepwood Heart! (Version 0.26.) I was able to do it at level 29, one below the recommended minimum level, without serious optimization. Looking forward to the aftermath!

Excellent work on the game! Natural characterization, superb visuals, and especially an excellent user interface! The social media and camera systems are very impressive, and it's clear that a ton of work and heart was put into this. I really like the UI transition when the player takes the Elevator, it's so good. And you've snuck in some good tutorials for various systems which no doubt will be used later in the game.

Some small points of feedback: 

* Scanning a QR code is very difficult, primarily I think because the player needs to drag around two sliders rather than dragging a box on the image itself. 

* I missed the entire social media section before visiting Sara at the coffee shop and felt bad that I didn't accept her friend request! I didn't even realize there was more to the social media system until she commented about it.

* I primarily didn't buy the girl cigarettes because I wasn't sure how much money I needed to save for the rest of my shopping. I also got confused when shopping, expecting that Ekaterina would send a shopping list and I was concerned I'd get the shopping wrong.

It's kind of difficult to tell what kind of game it is from just the itch.io page, though, and I could've easily missed it if I didn't choose to try it out. I'd recommend adding a screenshot for the social media system and the map, to demonstrate that you have more features than a visual novel. You might also consider describing how the game expects players to be a bit more observant, and won't always give everything to the player directly. (Such as when shopping for Mariya's birthday gift.) This could help draw more players in to your very impressive game.

Good luck!

I have to say, the game is far too grindy for my tastes. The player needs to repeat a lot of actions in order to have any chance of finding rare treasure or reaching the next event or so on, even with the fully upgraded treasure finding item and the bonus experience for consecutive fights. It's a little frustrating for the fun wardrobe options to be gated behind rare items, for example. 

I see that Nel can do the grind for you, but whenever she's in control you're asking the player to stop playing the game, which doesn't really address the issue. (She also doesn't tend to find the good items or level up particularly quickly.) If the player needs to do a lot of fights themselves in order to get these things, some options to reduce the amount of time for combat animations or treasure-finding animations would be helpful.

Combats are generally always about the same within each area, which adds to the grinding feeling. For example, along the beach, the combat is always against exactly one jellyfish. Could it make sense to occasionally vary the number of enemies per area, or to add some enemies from earlier areas occasionally? Older enemies could be recolored and brought to a higher level to add variety without needing to create a whole new set of animations. It might feel cheap, but it would add variety in which elements to use and how to plan around a different set of opponents.

The art is extremely well done, and it's clear that there's a lot of effort put into the whole scope of the game, but it feels like it'll take an incredible amount of time to see the whole game. But, I must admit, I am approaching this as someone who wants to see the content more than enjoying individual fights. I might be in the minority.

...I might've just missed it XD

Thanks!

Oh you're alive! Welcome back!

... Somehow I missed that you've had a Patreon all this time, by forgetting to check the game's main menu. You might consider adding a link on the itch.io page!

Thank you for the optimizations! I hadn’t been able to play the previous version. 

Welcome back! 

A great little game!

That’s quite an issue. I hope you can find an artist without too much trouble! 

Oh, interesting that there is a hint in the chapter already. I thought I had taught Cat every word, but I only saw 9 words (during this chapter). It looked like there was a slot for more words and one more sentence. Was I missing a word? If not, maybe there's a bug? 

(Screenshot taken from a save in v0.6.2, so it's possible that bugs could have been fixed.)

Ah, thanks! That worked. I guess I didn’t originally notice that her posture and clothing changed. Could it help to get some additional feedback of some kind, like Lee’s response post-petting changing as you progress, or Cat’s response to the “Cat Like Lee?” question changing? That might be difficult, though XD

Or, in hindsight, the most helpful thing to me would’ve been some reminder from Lee upon going to sleep or waking up to pet the Cat. 

Also, I am forced to conclude that petting Cats causes storms to get worse :P  The cause and effect is clear! 

Stupid question, but in chapter 6 (the storm gets worse and Cat comes indoors), what do you do next after teaching Cat all the words and feeding her? I'm not seeing an option I missed.

Oh man, I’d love to see that scriptwriting process XD 

(As I wrote in a review, but for anyone else to see...)
You guys made the right call. The writing was very engaging, with lots of character expression, and it would've been really difficult to get images for all of that. It was far better to stick to your writing than to compromise on it for the sake of images.

Did you ever figure it out? I’ve attempted to run it on Mac using Wine, but no luck so far. 

Wow, congratulations! I personally like the pixel art style, but you guys have demonstrated that you know exactly what you're doing. Good luck with the whole game! I hope it becomes everything you want it to be.

Well, that was a surreal experience! I don't know what to say besides that. Funky. 

Possible bug - is the Obelisk supposed to do something? Its pop-up suggests that it is supposed to generate money, but while it glows to varying intensities, it doesn't seem to do anything with it. Also, they behave weird if there's two of them activating simultaneously - it's as if there is a global charge-up value, and with two of them, they both charge up half as much.

FYI, the 0.2.1 download links are no longer working. 

Thanks for answering! I'm eager to see what you'll do with it!

The main reason I tried out this game in particular was because of the emoji dialogue boxes. Out of curiosity, why did you choose to do that? It worked far better than I would have expected, but it's such an unusual choice!

That's a neat idea! Totally fits into the ecological recovery aspect of the game, too.

Some good tips! It sounds like forest-burning is a bit random for you, when it ideally shouldn't be.

In case you're not aware, you can set up toxin scrubbers on top of burnt buildings. With that, you can afford to burn down more land than is minimally necessary (since it's hard to start multiple fires), and once you have achieved the required amount of forest, turn the remaining ash back into greenery with toxin scrubbers. That also can get you some additional land for beehives, if you need it.

Good tips!

I've found that you don't usually need to plan ahead for the second stage, but you definitely can!

No problem! I hope these little things help make it the best game it can be!

Not really a game designer myself, but one thing I've heard is to make a bunch of really small game projects, rapidly trying out ideas without over-investing in them. You might stumble onto something interesting, and then you can expand it if you think it'll be worthwhile. I hear game jams are good for this, and IIRC, the first version of Terra Nil was created during one.

Huh... I guess you can't replace wetlands? Hmm. Out of curiosity, what were you doing when you wanted to replace some wetlands?

Rushing for fixing the weather system is currently optimal, for good or for ill, although the ports are fun to use. If you aren't worried financially, you can just rebuild the power and water pump if you accidentally recycle them.