Garden of Moving Things (narrative pixelart point-n-click adventure)

I've been a lurker on these forums for years, but I've never really had the courage to show what I've been working on. I get a lot of anxiety dealing with negative criticism, especially when it involves something I'm passionate about. But after more than 5 years I'm FINALLY approaching my first big milestone which is a playable demo (basically the entire first chapter of the game), and I'm really happy with the state it's in, so I figured I'd bite the bullet. When the demo is actually ready I'll attach it here, but in the meantime here's some screenies and a synopsis of what it is. Bracing for feedback! :)

I want to thank this community for being such an inspiration over the years. It's been daunting trying to measure up to all the amazing work that people have been sharing. I tip my hat to all of you.

Edit: Actually, I'll worry about posting the completed demo in the "completed" forum. I'll just post it as is and see what happens. There's obviously lots of bugs, lots of missing sound effects, etc. but what the hell. Here's my WIP:


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Title: Garden of Moving Things
Genre: Narrative Point-n-Click Adventure
Art Style: Pixel
Gameplay: Exploration, puzzle-solving, collecting items, interacting with NPCs, finding secrets

Synopsis: You play as high-schooler Iona Saint-Germaine, one of a handful of survivors of a catastrophic event that has destroyed the city and somehow created a reality where the flow of time fluctuates and people can be infected with "bugs" that run like software on the brain. While these bugs mostly cause damaging afflictions such as memory loss, paralysis, and even multiple personalities, Iona is somehow immune to the negative effects and in fact gains new abilities by "downloading" these bugs from other people, saving them in the process. With the help of her mother, a scientist and researcher who may know more than she's telling, Iona must discover the root cause of the Event and undo it before time unravels completely.
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Prrz

Member
So proud of you for sharing this!
The concept sounds really interesting, and I absolutely love the art style. I'll be following this post waiting for a playable demo in the future!

Best of luck to you :D
 
So proud of you for sharing this!
The concept sounds really interesting, and I absolutely love the art style. I'll be following this post waiting for a playable demo in the future!

Best of luck to you :D
Thanks :) Link is available now if you're bored haha.
 

Prrz

Member
Thanks :) Link is available now if you're bored haha.
Quickly played through the tutorial bit (lacking downtime right now because of finals), so far so good!
I'll post an update when I am able to play through some more of it! :3
 

binarypearl

Member
Glad you were able to post what you have created so far. I fully understand the fear of negative criticism. You should have seen me when I got my first dislike / negative comment on a youtube video I posted a while back :) If you set your expectations appropriately, it can help handle how people might react to your content.

I did find a bug where the game crashed: It happened when Lona (main character - if I got the name correct) was out off detention, realized she forgot her locker combination and they decided to go home. I think I clicked on the area to go the main hall, and the game crashed with this:


___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_reflect_maya:

Variable obj_reflect_maya.idling(101043, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_reflect_maya_Step_0
############################################################################################
gml_Object_obj_reflect_maya_Step_0 (line -1)

Overall I like the concept. It has jokes that made me chuckle. This is my personal style but a couple suggestions:
Make sure to not keep conversations too long. Need enough information on what's going on in the story and what to do next, but if there is too much conversation it could make the player lose interest.

I like to throw in pop culture references. In my game for example, I make references to the movie Airplane and the anime Lucky Star. The point is to give the players something to relate to. Of course not everyone will get every reference, but you might be able to appeal to a wider audience. Breaking the 4th wall is a subtle art. See the movie Deadpool for a good example on breaking the 4th wall but not overdoing it.

Background music during gameplay would help with setting the mood of the characters and what is going on with the story.

Developing the characters is also important in a story game like this. Character flaws and how they handle conflicts can really add to the story.

Keep it up!
 
Glad you were able to post what you have created so far. I fully understand the fear of negative criticism. You should have seen me when I got my first dislike / negative comment on a youtube video I posted a while back :) If you set your expectations appropriately, it can help handle how people might react to your content.

I did find a bug where the game crashed: It happened when Lona (main character - if I got the name correct) was out off detention, realized she forgot her locker combination and they decided to go home. I think I clicked on the area to go the main hall, and the game crashed with this:





Overall I like the concept. It has jokes that made me chuckle. This is my personal style but a couple suggestions:
Make sure to not keep conversations too long. Need enough information on what's going on in the story and what to do next, but if there is too much conversation it could make the player lose interest.

I like to throw in pop culture references. In my game for example, I make references to the movie Airplane and the anime Lucky Star. The point is to give the players something to relate to. Of course not everyone will get every reference, but you might be able to appeal to a wider audience. Breaking the 4th wall is a subtle art. See the movie Deadpool for a good example on breaking the 4th wall but not overdoing it.

Background music during gameplay would help with setting the mood of the characters and what is going on with the story.

Developing the characters is also important in a story game like this. Character flaws and how they handle conflicts can really add to the story.

Keep it up!
Awesome feedback, thanks for checking it out. And yeah I found that crashing bug last night and realized I probably should have tested it one more time before I uploaded the link lol. I'm gonna recompile and upload a new version with the fix JIC you wanna venture further (there's quite a bit more).
 
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