Props to you for changing the game page itself, such a fun way to immerse your players! I am in love with the illustrations and that you can actually name your kitty! Such a fun addition.
I love the color palette it gives it a cozy feel, very warm and soothing. I'd love to see you push this more mostly because I want more content!
Presentation: Besides the lack of visuals, the presentation of the game is simple and straight to the point. This does fit the aesthetic and visual synthesis of your game. However, I encourage you to do more research into other itch.io narrative games that take this approach. There is a glaring issue of the "passage interaction" text color is way too similar to the background. The choice of this dusky blue for the background could also be pushed in future iterations. Blue is commonly associated with grief and other sad elements, but this story is more heartwarming if anything. It causes the viewer to wonder if the story will suddenly turn dark, yet, it never does.
Engagement: I feel that the engagement in this is a given. Requiring the audience to name their pet automatically brings a sense of attachment which is imperative to your gameplay and a great choice. Having it appear in future passages makes for fun gags, as well. It would be interesting to take a "Toby Fox" approach, where if you name your cat something like "cat", you get a passage that says "Now why would you do that?". Playing into the comedic and lighthearted themes of your game would make the viewer savor the experience just a bit more.
Viability: The game works as is, but what can be pushed? There are a lot of pet-caring simulators, but what makes yours different? Are there more paths you can create to maybe make the cat run away once more? Could there be more lighthearted moments? The game obviously works on its own as the nature of all narrative simulators, but consider pushing by creating a new mechanic, cat customization, etc.
Theme: The theme is adorable and very clearly lighthearted. However, the gaming market is flooded with cat-centered games. Just going on Steam and looking up "cat", there was 300+ results. This isn't to say a commonly used animal can make a game "unsuccessful", but it leaves you with a question: do you push this game or do you leave it lost in the crowd? Consider pushing your strongest themes of coziness, lighthearted nature, companionship. Something really special and unique you could add is small animated or lovely illustrated moments of your character spending time with their cat. A fireplace crackling sound could play as the player witnesses an illustration of the cat loving their new owner.
Overall, your game gets what it needs done. But what's left? Play into the strengths of the game to push it. It doesn't have to be the new Neopets, but it could be something unique and pushes all the other entries out of the water.
It is verycute and I like being able to name the cat, and I liked the cooler colors chosen for the style. I wasn't able to exit full screen mode after completion though.
- very cute! i love that you can name the cat i think thats very impressive, and how some options are blocked off at first, like you have to feed the cat before playing (i named him potato)
- some art of the cat would be super cute!!
- i think you need to enable the fullscreen button? bc when i run the game it immediately goes fullscreen and i cant hit escape to exit fullscreen
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Props to you for changing the game page itself, such a fun way to immerse your players! I am in love with the illustrations and that you can actually name your kitty! Such a fun addition.
I love the color palette it gives it a cozy feel, very warm and soothing. I'd love to see you push this more mostly because I want more content!
Presentation: I really love the visual and all the components. I feel it gives a lovely feeling to it.
Engagement: I feel it need to be more interactive with the character. but in overall I still like it.
viability: there game works very well for me. I just wonder if you will continue with this game more?
Theme: The theme is so interesting in how the visual completes the game itself.
Presentation: Besides the lack of visuals, the presentation of the game is simple and straight to the point. This does fit the aesthetic and visual synthesis of your game. However, I encourage you to do more research into other itch.io narrative games that take this approach. There is a glaring issue of the "passage interaction" text color is way too similar to the background. The choice of this dusky blue for the background could also be pushed in future iterations. Blue is commonly associated with grief and other sad elements, but this story is more heartwarming if anything. It causes the viewer to wonder if the story will suddenly turn dark, yet, it never does.
Engagement: I feel that the engagement in this is a given. Requiring the audience to name their pet automatically brings a sense of attachment which is imperative to your gameplay and a great choice. Having it appear in future passages makes for fun gags, as well. It would be interesting to take a "Toby Fox" approach, where if you name your cat something like "cat", you get a passage that says "Now why would you do that?". Playing into the comedic and lighthearted themes of your game would make the viewer savor the experience just a bit more.
Viability: The game works as is, but what can be pushed? There are a lot of pet-caring simulators, but what makes yours different? Are there more paths you can create to maybe make the cat run away once more? Could there be more lighthearted moments? The game obviously works on its own as the nature of all narrative simulators, but consider pushing by creating a new mechanic, cat customization, etc.
Theme: The theme is adorable and very clearly lighthearted. However, the gaming market is flooded with cat-centered games. Just going on Steam and looking up "cat", there was 300+ results. This isn't to say a commonly used animal can make a game "unsuccessful", but it leaves you with a question: do you push this game or do you leave it lost in the crowd? Consider pushing your strongest themes of coziness, lighthearted nature, companionship. Something really special and unique you could add is small animated or lovely illustrated moments of your character spending time with their cat. A fireplace crackling sound could play as the player witnesses an illustration of the cat loving their new owner.
Overall, your game gets what it needs done. But what's left? Play into the strengths of the game to push it. It doesn't have to be the new Neopets, but it could be something unique and pushes all the other entries out of the water.
I love this! I really like how you really have to take care of him before play time.
It is verycute and I like being able to name the cat, and I liked the cooler colors chosen for the style. I wasn't able to exit full screen mode after completion though.
- very cute! i love that you can name the cat i think thats very impressive, and how some options are blocked off at first, like you have to feed the cat before playing (i named him potato)
- some art of the cat would be super cute!!
- i think you need to enable the fullscreen button? bc when i run the game it immediately goes fullscreen and i cant hit escape to exit fullscreen