I may have some bias because I watched a fair bit of the livestream making this, but for a 48 hour game jam, this game is absolutely amazing. The pixel art is all top notch, and the concept and execution of the node connection is fantastic. I was intrigued by the atmosphere and story as well.
I only ran into a couple of gameplay issues:
Hitting a node with too much force would start the story text, but my character would then fall off it and rest his position (from that node, so nothing was lost but continuity). Making the node-pull mechanism absolute if the character got close enough would probably be good.
And secondly, I shot over ledges a few times, landing a level or 2 below on another node, which would reset my position to a previous level. This sometimes made it hard to keep track of the story, and I'd have to re-do the platforming puzzle I had already completed. This wasn't a huge issue, however, and is quite forgivable given the sometimes non-linear nature of the story.

Fun to play, engaging story, and just really solid presentation overall. From start to finish, this looks like a professionally produced game =) And also I am going to dig into the shaders you used to create that fog-clearing effect and steal them ;) That was so cool!

Very beautiful pixel art with simple and intuitive game play. Realizing the relationship between pulling the string on a bow and moving through the story immediately made it feel good to me. I enjoyed the story, short and sweet, well put together and the dialogue was well written (I'm not going to spoil anything about it by writing how it made me feel). I didn't run into any issues with the game. Thank you!

All of the visual and audio part is so damn good. Really enjoyed the ending - wasn't expected you will bring such kind of deep idea behind this. Some questions can be in controlls and gameplay, but this is minor. As the small story this is really masterpiece!

Short but so sweet! The pixel art is so beautiful, and the game is so well polished. The writing is very interesting, especially because you may skip some parts or visit others multiple times and they still work. The ambient sounds and sound effects also add to the great atmosphere of the game. Good job!

Love the game so much! great graphics and story also audio, enjoyed watching you live too was fun, great job!

I got distracted from working on my game because I was watching him turn smudges into amazing graphics on the stream xD

I literally cannot believe this game was made in 48 hours by a single person, even watching the whole process live.

This is a brilliant idea. Very touching and well crafted story, deeply exposing our proclivity to hide painful memories from ourselves. The gameplay was smooth, and fun. Absolutely clever. Thanks for posting this :)

Love the mood and style

Love the mood and style

Love the mood and style

I found it difficult to get a handle on precisely how to aim (even by the end of the game) and I missed some of the memories by overshooting, but overall I enjoyed playing through this! The graphics were unique and the gameplay was thematic to the overall story. Super impressive for a Compo game!

Interesting mechanic but hard to both traverse the world and follow the story at the same time.

Amazing art. So many cool backgrounds. The gameplay works well too. It's a little hard to tell when the game is over.

Damn! This is my favourite so far.

The art is really well done and I love the lighting and how it slowly becomes less dark. The game feels polished and really responsive, and the main mechanic is great. The games tone is good and I'm genuinely impressed. Awesome work.

It was really fun to maneuver but it often felt that I was darting back to read the story. But it was really good. So thank you for that.

Frick. This was beautiful. I love how the level layout matches/syncs with the backgrounds and what is happening in the story. Also that little burst of music at the end got me right in the feels.

Excellent! I really enjoyed this. It's amazing that this was made in 24 hours. Thanks for putting this out!

Really good, very polished for a 48 hour game! Enjoyed playing, and even though it is short it feels like a complete game.

I think the art style was really well done. I know you worked very hard on this! I think it turned out very well! I think the gameplay was unique, it felt smooth! Very good job!

This game was extremely satisfying, would love to see more of this type of game!

Really loved the snappy gravity pull on it, the way you linked each node to a part of the story really makes the game immersive, 10/10

Super neat game! Art was gorgeous, music/sound was good, mechanic was interesting and fairly well implemented. I also loved the way you handled story with each node having dialog and paths/rooms being extra but adding to the story. I have to say though, I have a few critiques.

For one, I didn't entirely understand the ending. Was it some kind of metaphor? Did the hunter construct a false memory of the deer because he shot his beloved? Was the girl the deer ***THE WHOLE TIME?!*** Or did he just like... shoot her by accident because he was blinded by his ambition? This is probably mostly a personal thing though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it's common feedback.

Secondly, the main mechanic was somewhat inconsistent in difficulty at times. Sometimes, it felt like mechanic would almost cheat for you, snapping to nodes I wasn't really close to. Other times—like in the secret room—it was **really** hard to get where I wanted to, and it felt like luck when I did. This wasn't, *too bad* getting into the secret area, but very annoying getting back out. This is probably something that just needs a little more polish than a jam allows.

Anyway, I enjoyed it! I feel like it's really brave to do something with a serious tone for a jam like this so I applaud you. Thanks for the game!

Well done! You keep the Deer alive! :D

Really good game! As the music comes late in the game and the gameplay is simple, the run felt a bit long though. but the end is amazing, it's a good reward for our patience during the hunt ^^

I love this gameplay concept, it's pretty unique and poses a fun challenge. I also love stories told this way. So that was wonderful. I also really like the art style just added to the atmosphere. Well done!

This has definitely been the most innovative take on the concept so far. The core mechanic was fun, rewarding to learn, and challenging.

I enjoyed how used the gameplay to tell the story. The limited palette was smart move and I felt it was overall well executed.
Congratulations!

I absolutely love this game! So unique and engaging, art is wonderful, the core mechanic is simple, challenging but forgiving enough to not be frustrating. Probably the best game I've played so far. Great job!

Quite a nice game. Graphics are simple but outstanding and mechanics are well executed. Well done !

This is definitely one of the best that I've tried so far. The art, audio, and story all go together effectively and create a great atmosphere, and the gameplay is fun.

Firstly, I did enjoy the game alot, the mechanic took me off guard and the story telling is really nice, however there are some small aspects that made it hard for me to actually keep on playing it after 5min. For example the colour palette, I really didnt even notice there were barriers at some point because of it, and just hit on them and then I noticed them... The music is fantastic and the artwork itself is great, but I would change the colours to show some stuff pop up better than others, example the barriers and main character.

I loved played this, and it's incredible to me that it was made in only 48 hours! The pixel graphics are breath taking, as well as the overall design, and the the gameplay was really unique. I also loved going through the story. It was a little weird though constantly returning to parts of the story to chase the deer and got a bit old. Moving through some parts of the game were a bit frustrating as I couldn't really see where I was aiming - granted, and I still had a great time trying repeatedly to get through everything, but it was kind of frustrating.

Overall though, really good game! Loved it!

So awesome! There were a few small issues with flying through the nodes/memory points, but other than that it was very polished! I'd have loved some more music, but I understand this was made in 48 hours, so no complaints :)

Can't wait to see this on mobile or fleshed out more sometime!

Great pixel Graphics and smooth main mechanic. SoundFX are good but music is lacking. The color pallet is a bit muddy and hard to see sometimes. Overall strong game.

It's amazing how you were able to pull this off in 48 hours. Despite the previous comment, I really loved the green palette and the art style is amazing! I watched your stream and I was there when you revealed the big spoilers so I kind of knew what would come but it still was fun to continue playing. I have encountered some bugs but nothing too jarring or unplayable. It might just be me but I would liked a bit of thrill like maybe the memories fade after some time and you need to jump away before it gets you or something (though I also see some problems with that idea). Overall it was an amazing game!

Really love the art and the mood here! So it's like snooker with a branching storyline? :D Some bits were quite difficult, though!

Incredibly impressive, super pretty, engaging and fun.

Felt like a golf ball / 10

Nice and simple mechanic with an immersive storytelling.

I was in a room with no exit except for the one I came from, was it the end or just a dead end and I should have backtracked a bit?

Great game! I really like the way each note tells its own part of the story, then making u backtrack with the animal bringing you on an adventure. I watched your stream, lurking inside, during the game jam while I was hard at work on my own game. Its really nice to see it come together at the end in a fun experience.

The controls are a bit hard to master but I love the aesthetic and general idea

Really great, love the plot twist, was short but sweet.

The audio was a bit quiet and there wasn't much of a *game*, but that's about where the bad stuff ends.
The atmosphere and art were amazing, and I managed to get quite invested in the story, despite its brevity. The branching path that looped in on itself and allowed you to experience the story slightly differently depending on how you went was great.

Overall, really well made!

The visuals on this game are immense. I maybe would have added some music, but then again just having the woodland noises was very effective for creating atmosphere! Overall, this is an amazing Compo game!

Interesting take on a classic control scheme. I like the non-linearity.

Woooooow, holy crap. That was some amazing experience and such an awesome way to convey the narrative. Really amazing work, well done!!

This is amazing! 48h but you made a masterpiece, I'm very impressed!

It was fun to play, very easy to understand, and aaah the feels ;;

I'm a fan of pixel art, especially the gameboy palette. Great game, great music.

The moment when you don't hit the ball and fall to another level. It looks right - so you can see what's next. But the fall is a bit strange.

I loved this game, the ending was just sooooo good, and sad, and my feelings dude ;,( Well done!

Love the mood and style

The mood and the story is very nice.

Great game! I enjoyed the non linear story, and reading it backwards was just as good as forwards!

The mood was a little reminiscent of ori and the blind forest, which I love, and the slingshot mechanics were interesting, but I felt that they were underused for the most part.

That was incredibly well-done. The mood, graphics, story, and writing were excellent. The length was perfect, the gameplay was fairly engaging. This has definitely been the most emotional submission I've yet seen. So much character, so memorable. Truly excellent work.

Amazing game! congrats!!

The game is beautiful, I'm speechless. Everything - art, story, gameplay - fit together and resonates just like in poetry. Very deep and emotionally touching game. What a great work!

I enjoyed the narrative, especially the bit where you revisit previous nodes which take on a different meaning in a different context. Gameplay wise, would be nice to quick reset a failed shot.

Great writing, the background art is absolutely gorgeous.

Beatiful and amazing game! Art was soo good

amazing pixel art!! the game is so fun

the atmosphere is perfect. we want to know the story. I really like this moment

very original shooting/jumping mechanic in a physics game and the theme choice and execution is fitting and flawless. congrats, this was very fun to play!

Beautiful game wonderfully executed, fantastic sound design and art!

The mechanic was so smooth. The physics also was so great. I really enjoyed it. But i accidentally skipped certain point. But overall the graphic, the shader and narrative was so great. But the end like "......" oh nooooo...

simple and beautiful!

very nice and fascinating game! great work for compo. art is also really good i really loved this game!

Nice little game, didn't play it through and didn't read the story, but enjoyed it nontheless.

Great game, the controls are very nice and intuitive--would work well for a mobile game. Very nice visuals, music & atmosphere. Liked the story, too. Overall very polished. Congrats! :D

Good game but not good enough for market.
And i think a few people care about story in such game.

Amazing game. I loved the self-contained mini-story, it was very good. Definitely gave me an "Oh S---" moment at the end. The music was great. The mechanics were a little weird at times, like when you'd bounce into another room on accident and completely skip a checkpoint, but other than that, 10/10.

The visuals are superb quality!

The audio background ambiance is nice and fits the visuals nicely.

One audiovisual gripe for me is that there is no reaffirmation that you actually hit a note. You just sort of stop and that's it. Nothing else. Feels stiff.

The gameplay is utterly uninteresting. It seemed to take priority over the on-screen text for me, making me completely ignore the text all togehter and instead trying to find a fun way of interacting with the game. Speaking of, I couldn't find one except for trying to cheese the level transitions by hitting a node in another level without hitting any nodes in the current level. That was the only somewhat interesting thing to me.

So while the presentation is great and one of the best I've seen in the whole jam, the interactivity/gameplay is uninspiring and uninteresting.

Aesthetically this is obviously exceptional!

The central mechanic is also pretty neat, although it did end up feeling a bit frustrating / trial-and-error at times. Also, a bit disconnected from the theme.

Super impressive in an artistic/technical sense, given the time constraints.

Wow, this game looks absolutely incredible!
Graphics are more than top notch. Beautiful scenery, great work with the colors.
The audio is well done as well, congrats on that.

I truly enjoyed the game as a whole. The story is nicely told, and the gameplay is interesting if a bit frustrating at some points where it's hard to know if you're aiming right through the holes or not.

Overall a great game, even more considering it only took you 48 hours to do it. Congrats!

Nice job. Great mood. And you NAILED tying the mechanic to the story. I got stuck in a couple places, but overall it was fun. I found myself wishing for an indicator of where the previous shot went, but I guess that would take away from tying the mechanic to the story so strongly.

Excellent artwork, especially the "final scene". That was chilling. Great story.
The gameplay as a bit lackluster and could use some fine-tuning, but overall it was enjoyable for what it is. It was compelling, fun, and moderately challenging at times.
Sound design was okay. Nothing really stood out, but maybe that was intentional.
You definitely sold the mood of a weary, defeated man trying to do his best. At times the gameplay and events also added in a sort of understanding of his frustration, too.
Great job!

Solid all-round. Visuals and sound work together really nicely. I could see this working as a mobile game with some stronger puzzle elements or some form of action to turn it into a more compelling experience with more replay value. Well done.

This was a great game. Didn't expect it to end that way!

Great storytelling mechanics, also the ending...

Fantastic experience! Artwork and music were top notch and the unique story telling method worked perfectly to deliver a powerful feeling for such a short game.

This was simply bad ass. I loved it. Clever and artistic, easy to pick up, full of interesting little moments. Just awesome, really well done.

This is a great game! The art and graphics are really good and fits the mood, and the pace of the story really gives of the intended vibe. Also the concept is awesome, but unfortunately at the same time it prevents the game from being expanded upon? Still great game, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the experience, awesome game, lots of talent there. The only thing I found lacking was the soundtrack, but I don't think it would be easy to do more than this in 48 hours lol. Nice!

What a nice way to tell a story. Some shots were tricky and quite frustrating for me and my 7yo son that played along, but it was pretty well executed.
I missed a background song ou even sound effects. I maxed my speakers and did not get anything. Was it my fault or the game lacked sound for real?
This experience really called for some mood song along the way. Nice job overrall!

Really good experience. I was very impressed by how the story was told. Fun mechanic too. Congrats, well done!

This was super cool. The sound was really great, the sound of the little guy hitting the ground was super satisfying. Fun little mechanic. Nice job!

Wow I loved the idea of connecting the gameplay with the story and the environment. Having your memories branch. The idea was really innovative. The style fit the narrative so well. Really appreciated it's short and sweet nature. Looking forward to your future games! ( great stream btw! )

Great concept to blend the narrative with a simple mechanic (but not easy - some areas were hard to traverse) and stroll through the pixel art. I admit I missed the deer a few times and don't think I found the end. I will have to come back and try to finish it. Great game!

This game is beautiful with an interesting story. The slingshot mechanic is smooth and seems intuitive, though I was pretty bad at it. Overall it is very impressive.

Saw your game from your stream! This is really well done and I love pixel art so much. This will do well on mobile if that's what you're asking during the stream. You just have to add an endless mode probably.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game mechanic and art style that brought the game to life. The sound effects were terrific also. The idea was also very unique and interesting. Overall beautiful submission.

Very nicely done. One of the few jams i actually finished :)

Had a lot of fun playing but not gonna lie kinda wanted to kill the deer.

Amazing gameplay, very smooth graphics and calming music. Congrats!

Great graphics and ambience! I liked the peaceful gameplay, the well placed audio effects, the good placement of checkpoints, the smooth feel, the appropriate increase in difficulty, and a loop that ends in the menu! That's a long list! It really is a great game, I had a good time playing it!

Wow, that was just amazing ! Thank for this game !

WOW!

Great Game, keep it up

Great atmosphere done with the graphics and smooth main gameplay flow. The story itself is beutiful and unique. After reading your blog feed that your thoughts about developing phase (which is very nice), I remember that I didn't bring a feedback here :) Overall it's a very solid entry, thank you!

I like the way the you tell the story. Good graphics, nice sound, the core mechanics is intuitive, but I wish I had a little bit of variety in gameplay, maybe adding some bubbles or other objects which require different approach will help.

I hope you won't abandon the idea, you did a great job!

Nice idea and art!

This is the best game I've played in the jam by a lot, and you made it alone in 48h? Great job

This is the best game I played so far. The storytelling ideas are superb, the graphics are perfect, and you just want to wander more in these memories... Having done this in Compo? Congratulations !

Realy well done movement and good artstyle keep working good luck

Gorgeous art and loving the simple but very well executed mechanics

Nice retro style game!

Ok. Really nice game idea you have, nice story well made. The graphic style is also pretty cool, ton of work on the backgrounds. The game is really moody, it create such a great experience... my main problem is that the controls and physics are kinda dorky (you can go pretty fast, jump from one level to another, the text after a fex misses is repetitive... for example I miss the straight shot on the "Oh I miss the stag" room and it was a "partyblower") that stuff kind of "kills" the mood your aiming for (not pun intended). Nice job after all!

This is lovely, I really enjoyed it. The artwork is great, the tone and the story is poetic... the mechanic is interesting. I'm not sure how you'd flesh this out into something bigger, but as a stanalone piece of art, it's quite beautiful. The only issue I had was that with the colour pallete (which I like, by the way), the walls weren't always visible... after shooting the stag, I didn't realise that I could continue forward, and I ended up going back around to the beginning. It was only on a second playthrough that I caught the actual ending!
Glad I went through it a second time... great entry.

Amazing graphics, very interesting concept. Sounds and music are really good. The story is touching, one of the best games I've seen so far on this challenge. Impressive work for one man.

Really beautiful game, the story was well written and the art looks amazing too

Clever way to tell a story, good job! :thumbsup:

Wow, just wow! I can't even put into words how cool this is.
Okay, simple things first: I like the graphics. Especially the background images are beautiful.
Then the sounds set the modd very well and when the music came on, it really had an impact.
The way to combine gameplay and story (with the revealing background as well) is a really cool idea. The way the story wraps in of itself and still makes sense. And the ending is very neat as well. All around for me one of the best games of this jam.

Nice Story and gameplay. Give the game music. Sound give the game more athmosphere.

The art on this is obviously super impressive, and the reveal at the end legit gave me goosebumps, with how the music came in. I would have liked to see the game embrace the difficulty curve of similar games such as Jump King and Getting Over it. Some of the nodes seemed to be placed with no intention, and simply served as means to tell the story. Making all the nodes required, but forcing a more difficulty game I think would have made the final payoff more gratifying. Also, embracing a more linear/vertical level design similar to Jump King could have played in with the story of him trying to ascend to see his wife again? Idk, just some ideas :)

I really enjoyed this. Great work. Great story, great art, great mood. It really hit the feels. Thank you.

Wonderful entry! The amount and quality of content is amazing, moreso for a compo game.

Loved the melancholic mood, the experience of the chase and I found the game mechanic cool, even if the node snapping + falling through felt a bit non-deterministic: sometimes I'd go back to the node, some others I'd just move to one or two levels afterwards, and it was not immediately clear.

Awesome work, congratulations!

What an Amazing game! I really liked the idea of the gameplay, the music fits well and the graphics give that GameBoy feel! And the history behind it is awesome! Marevilous work!

Really nice game. Interesting movement and storytelling mechanic, and I love the art and the whole atmosphere.

Awesome work. I'm blown away that this is a solo compo project. The idea of connecting individual story lines to nodes in the game was wonderful, and an excellent way to deliver the story. The ending was really well done as well. My only criticism would be that some screens felt a little too hard compared to those around it which made for some frustrating difficulty spikes, but overall I loved it. Great job!

Best compo entry I've seen so far ! Nice mood, story and sound design. I love the elegance of the concept, it looks wonderful and I had a blast playing it. You did a wonderful job, especially for a 48 hours solo work !

Wonderful artwork and satisfying feedback(when the player object automatically attracts to each waypoint). Didn't pay too much attention to the story when I played the first time lol, was trying so hard aiming. Overall, great game, but the experience would improve if there was a soundtrack

@gentoogames Hey! thanks for your feedback. I actually started with the idea of making a Jump King style game, and I'm planning on making one using this mechanic some time soon. Crippling difficulty, much more linear and with long drops in certain sections etc. I made a conscious decision early on that this game wouldn't be prohibitively difficult like jump king because it's such a niche format, and I wanted most players to be able to reach the ending.

To be honest, I still think I could have leveled out the difficulty curve to be more consistent as I notice a few players didn't make it to the end to hear the music, so I imagine the score will suffer there. Ultimately, the choice was to serve the narrative given that players would probably have a short attention span in this LD setting. It was a tough call to make a lot of those choices for the sake of late-game narrative impact. That's what the game is about though, so I'm not sure if I would have changed anything if I had a chance to re-do it.

Dude this game is amazing. I'm baffled. The story. The graphics. The game itself is a piece of art.

I'm so late to reviewing this Adamn! Sorry about that! To be honest it's hard to say much more then I've already said in chat during your streams haha, but seriously, you did a great job on this submission. Your take on the theme is so different from many of the other submissions on here, if a tad grim, but still great! The jump king mechanic is super simple, and I love it. Everything feels smooth, and the story helps drive the player to go to every node, even the ones that are out of the way and don't go anywhere.

Anyways, again, fantastic entry! Thank you for being awesome haha! ;)

Top quality game. Amazing Job!

Very polished overall, loved the twist at the end. Fantastic, art and clean Gameplay feedback.
Theme was used ooookayish to me, you seem to be remembering something, but there is no way (at least in my play through) to fail. It's definitely more of an artwork than a game to me.

Great work man. Gameplay was satisfying, implementation of theme via memories was very nice and writing was effective.

wow this was art. I was getting a little emotional. even worse i missed the node revealing the *event* and had to keep trying knowing what was going to happen sadlol.
The clearing the fog image was so strong and well done!
5/5

Holy cow, the art for this is fantastic. Nice work! The animation also really sells the motion.

So yeah, That was pretty great. Definitely was a complete game. I don't think there's really anything I would change about it. It wasn't immediately apparent to me that I could click and drag from anywhere on screen so I was having a hard time with some of the flings getting enough force, but figured it out eventually. Very engaging story, sounds like it could be a book. Saw one typo somewhere lol but no biggie. Very well done!

Very very nice. Our theme idea was also keeping her memory alive!

Nice story, nice implementation. I liked the tension and release, and the feeling of the movement. It reminded me of Celeste.

I love this type of looping story. I did want to see another revelation on the second time through, but maybe I missed something. You should build this out, add even more nice visceral particles and more story, and release it on mobile.

Really enjoyed this one, mechanics feel great and the sounds were nice too. Not sure how well it fits the theme, but it is still very well made!

I liked that there seemed to be an analogue between mechanic and high concept of what it can sometimes feel like to "meander" through your own memories.

Sometimes you remember things out of order. Sometimes you backtrack in your recollection. Sometimes you only vividly recall moments, such as the nodes in your game, and you have to muddle through reconstructing the order of events yourself.

Very cohesive vision between theme and mechanics. Well done :)

Nearly a full 5/5 ! A simple mechanic used well, that makes for a great game. And the narrative was good too, managing to even feel like memories that could be read on way or another. The graphics contributed to it too, and the visual effects and mechanics were well polished.

So, in short: good job !

One of the best game in LD! Great work

Awesome artwork and story-telling technique! Really enjoyed the gameplay as well. I did find that a couple of times I would "overshoot" the bubbles, and fall out after hitting them. I also think that a smaller hitbox for the player would have made the levels where you are ricocheting around corners feel less frustrating. Overall really cool experience, and good work getting a finished product like that done within the given time-frame!

This game is gorgeous ! Really innovative storytelling. For a game made in 48h, it is really impressive !

This was really lovely! The art is great, with lots of great details (the bow animation is cool, revealing the background based on your position is a neat effect). Re-using the same narrative fragments when going either direction, and making it loop in the end was especially cool! I think that the slingshot mechanic is fun, but overall the gameplay is a little lacking to be fully engaging. Still, it worked fit well with the narrative, which was definitely the centerpiece :)

What a beautiful game, the atmosphere was spot on. Very fun and original mechanics, great work!

An innovative mesh of physics-based object flinging and bits of story text kind of like a choose your own adventure. It's a really neat idea. I played it all the way through and quite enjoyed it. There are a lot of things you can do with this and I hope you continue work on it.

Amazing art combined with a great feel. It was enjoyable just to flick around the player to advance
through the story. The story was my motivation to keep at a frustrating section where I just couldn't quite get through. I really enjoyed this one.

Disorienting in the best possible way! Lolz!!
@adamcyounis, you've done it again! :) Loved watching your twitch channel too.

This game is clever as hell, though there wasn't a clear win moment for me.
Not sure if it's even possible to win.

Loved how quickly you recover after 'dying' I love the memory art and how the illumination pools over it.
Thanks for the fun.
-NeitherNorth

Great atmosphere and art, the actual gameplay was a bit janky at times but that's understandable for a game jam. I really enjoy the idea of the gameplay and it was a good way to cohesively tie the narrative with the player actions.

Unbelievably good. This is an IGF finalist level game from a jam. The graphics, the storytelling, the mechanics...it was simple to play, interesting, and deep. Bravo! 5's all around.

Whoa, this was fantastic. Really creative, though, like others I had some difficulty taking in the story at the same time I was zooming around the map. A few of the jumps felt significantly more frustrating than others, in a way I'm not sure was intentional, but that might have just been me

@casual-effects Thank you for playing, I'm really humbled you'd say that! I don't know if I agree with you just yet, but it's a bit of a dream of mine to be there at the IGFs one day. Cheers for giving me some hope lol ❤️

This is no doubt in my top 3 favorite games from this jam! I love it it's so fun plus the story is so well written and executed. I'd like the player to be bouncier but right now its already perfect. thanks for making this yo!

Really polished game well done, well thought out story and with a massive surprise at the end.
Great job making this in such a short time!!

What an impressive game!
Moody ambient sounds and well-placed music, the way nodes light up the environment, the touching story, the top-notch pixel art, the polished puzzles, the fun shooting mechanic, everything was gorgeous!
One bit of constructive criticism:
The entry to the house was visually almost not distinguishable from the background, which left me wondering where to go next.

does this game have an end?

This is absolutely incredible. Not only this is the best game I've played from Ludum Dare, but it is so good it will stick with me for some time. The art is great, the storytelling is fabulous, the sound and music are perfect, the gameplay and level design are nice.

Thank you so much for making this game. I hope someday I can be as talented as you.

One of the best of the jam for sure, the most atmosferic I've tried so far. AMAZING!

Really great art and storytelling. Such a unique idea.

Okay wow, what an original idea. It feels like a finished product to be honest. I think the graphics are rock solid too. They feel like a style of their own.

Well done!!

just lovely l fell in love with this game, honestly how can you make sure that the story make sense nomather with way you go even backward?

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING GAME! All it needs is some more story and areas.

@artist-hidihojoe Yep! You have to cycle back a bit once you get to the clearing with the deer. You'll know when you return to the title screen :)

Interesting narrative, awesome graphics! Well done!

First of all, amazing graphics and fun game. I really like the narrative style, the piece of memories is combine by the guide of deer and bubbles, as I continue playing the game, there is a brief story line here, lead me find more and more map about the game and the story behind it. It maybe not that creative, but as a jam game, this is absolutely awesome.

Really creative game! The storytelling is awesome too like the graphics!! Congrats!

Wow! Very good atmosphere and excellent concept!

I'm thrilled! Stunning gameplay, beautiful graphics and sound, polished code-all this together creates an unforgettable experience. Thank you for this game!

Really neat mechanic, super satisfying to move around the world. Really really polished. Loved the mood and the vibe, very mysterious. Really just an A+ job!

Super polished movement, really a great concept to explore, well done.

Included your game in my list) https://wans24.itch.io/he-needs-healing/devlog/140983/what-ludum-dare-46-did-to-me

Very polished game. I really like that pixel-art, 2D lighting!

Nothing else to say that others haven't said.

Everything was amazing, I loved the work with shaders and nodes, very impressive compo.

Very impressive - fun mechanics while telling a compelling story. I found myself longing for one more mechanic - perhaps collectibles of some sort. Regardless, nicely done!

I keep coming back to this one, just moving around feels so satisfying.
really hoping that you continue develop this

Nice game!!! Great story and mood, i just think (it's my opinion, maybe it would ruin the game) that the character could be more "bouncy" on the walls

Magnificent game with a simple story but enjoyable narrative.

wow what a ride! Awesome game built on top of really fun mechanic, thanks for the game. As usual great artstyle

i really liked the game. However, I felt like you could reduce the rage by making death feel more impactful. Not by sending the player back, but by some screenshake and stuff

Really appreciate some nice compo quality game, wish more would follow your path ! keep it up !

oh my what a really innovative game! never seen a game like this before... congrats for your work!

oh my what a really innovative game! never seen a game like this before... congrats for your work!

Well.....I think I've found my favourite (so far!) Incredible work, Absolutely loved everything about it. Awesome art and feel. clever integration of the narrative. Well done! :)

It's very interesting gameplay mechanic, A good way to navigate around the map. This is really a great game, it would be nice to add another mechanics or something to fill the levels. It seems that I got stuck in a loop, I think I'm lost so never got the ending. Anyway it's an interesting game, I hope the game has more content. Also not to mention this submission if for compo, really appreciate your hardwork to put all of your effort into it. Overall, pretty cool game!

Love the graphics, color palette and animations. And that the level returns to the start.

Some levels were a bit too hard (pixel perfect throw, I imagine), that's the only thing. The art is just wonderful, story makes sense however you connect the dots, music contributes perfectly to that strange nostalgia feeling, ending is very strong - even more so with the loop restarting. Amazing entry.

I like that you've drawn a parallel between the narrative structure of the game and the physical world. It lends an abstractness to the gameplay, which is rare to see in physics-based games. I ended up paying less attention to the narrative because of the gameplay, and as I did with picture books when I was a kid, just got the gist of the narrative by looking at the pictures.

I was compelled to play through the game twice, probably because I felt sad about the ending and hoped that something would change, but the overarching narrative remained the same, which feels appropriate. Interestingly, on my second time around I did take a few slightly different paths, leading me to find a non-critical path that I had missed on my first time around, which added color to the narrative.

The lava-lantern-illumination effect was really fun to look at and was a neat way to indicate the visited nodes and to reveal the images gradually.

great story and a special way to experience it, great graphics and a great fitting background music, gives the game a very good mood

Oh my gosh, the graphics are amazing for a jam!

Very cool and unique approach at a narrative game. I really enjoy how I can choose the path myself and even when I over shoot I might end up in other memory that I was not aware. Although, I can't help but have that feeling that I don't know if the story will progress well and get all scrambled if I don't follow a specific order making it hard to make too many bold choices at a fear of missing out. Perhaps that's me or that's part of the design. In the end, and this is probably a preference, it would be nice to give some or of a guide that will show me the apex of my jump and perhaps the angle at which I will descend to help me my choices

the game's concept kinda blew my mind, i really wasn't sure how you were going to combine your mentioned inspirations, but it really did come together as an amazing product! it was a little confusing at times to figure out the path, but being able to choose your pathing is really neat. maybe a narrator would be really cool, to add a bit more to the game's mood? amazing overall nonetheless!

Graphics and game mechanic was great. But aiming could be frustrating sometimes. It was Fun!

Amazing pixel art! Usually, you don't expect such detail in a gameboy-like palette. Nice job! Especially for a compo entry!

This is a wonderful experience. The pixel art and color palette is awesome. The backgrounds are breathtaking and the fog effect is mesmerizing. I also like the small animations everywhere.

The narrative is nice. It's a solid story well presented. I had to redo some of the paths, because I fell down on a previous path point, but that's ok. I'm not so sure about the shooting mechanic. It's fun for a while, but in the end it's just a vehicle to drive the story and maybe even a bit annoying. Most shots feel more like luck. But this is admittedly just nitpicking on a very high level.

All in all an impressive compo game!

Great game for compo!

I could feel it coming, but oh my lord, that was well done :).

Really enjoyed this, the game play mechanics of progressing through the story, and the story itself - linking back on itself at parts and still making sense, all to become a totally amazing cyclical experience XD.

Nice work! :D.

really cool game idea :)

Great idea, great execution. Love the story aspect.

woah.. really cool. the storyline is great!

i feel like everything that should be told about this game was told, so I want to just add my congratulations, it was good and well-polished one :D

I really love the art style of this game. And the mechanics is very interesting with well executed smooth gameplay. Bravo!

Yass

Nice mechanic and pixel art, especially the backgrounds. The audio also helped tie everything together. The controls felt really good, but sometimes frustrating to move around when it's hard to see the black parts of the environment.

This is incredible, especially the ending!

The ending kinda annoyed me :P

I enjoyed the game mechanics and art/mood though

This was moving...

Wow, this was amazing. Very nice way to tell a story.

The mechanic is pretty interesting and the art is nice. To be honest, I skipped over most of the story, because it was just too much to read. Voice over would have been great (though hard to do in the limited time), or just less text overall. My take away was that I was hunting this deer through the forest, but when I killed it this also killed my girlfriend named Apollo (or she died while I was away). I think there was some ambience sound, but I missed most of it since the volume is quite low.

Just noticed this mechanic is kind of like the game Ordia. Not sure what to call the genre though. I guess it's a platformer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ-L4gmbCDw