Right, this is an amazing game but could be so much better if there were not so many weird GUI issues, bugs and two odd choices.
GUI: Mixing the mouse and keyboard feels weird to start with and gets downright horrible later on with lots of birds, even the keyboard is objecting since pressing two keys at once often/always locks the vertical movement out and you slide awkwardly along the horizontal. Having to go to the bottom and then to each bird (especially pigeons) for each message (even when messages are grouped) is cute to start with but gets frustrating fast with lots of messages and birds... I spent more time giving messages than I did anything else in the game and paying attention to deadlines was not worth it beyond half-way through the game... make sure your birds are upgraded and just send them with the right size package plus don't take on the apothacary or the other short deadline patron... not worth the trouble because there is too much time just trying to get message to birds in the roost.
Bugs: Upgrades to birds cost nothing despite what it says. Birds taking twice as long as they should (occassionally but impactfully in the case of multi-parcel deliveries, especially with the queen given the hit to reputation is at least twenty well sent packages... plus the time it takes to do so given the decline in reputation over time. Looking at the bird seller screen when they leave the page makes it so you can't leave that page ever again... this is a HARD RESET BUG. Kernels seem to jump in price by ten times once you go into buying them individually (whatever the price marked) - I was within days tens of thousands in debt due to having run out of kernels... no the price being charged for kernels was not matched by what was being charged automatically. Going into debt doesn't end the game? It is not possible to leave debt though as the cost of kernels far outstrips your ability to make money.
Design choices: keyboard plus mouse. no save function. little to no information on the main stat in the game (reputation), it seems to be impacted by debt status, failed packages (by a huge degree) but not improved for delivering early or for larger deliveries (because four stork delivery a day ahead of time is entirely normal for a forge!?! Never mind four note deliveries over 1400kms on the same day - and that wasn't even a short deadline!?!?)
I have to say this feels a lot like a game that was always playtested from beginning to end (given the lack of saving this is even less surprise) and therefore the start of the game experience is very good and then the end of game experience is a terrible mishmash because little problems magnify to become big problems because the choice of "difficulty" curve was "all of them" (more packages, more reputations to maintain, more birds, less time (caused by a slow and inefficient UI) and way too much information that just can not be parsed in time... I would challenge you to create an automated bot to play this game to the end without having the same issues as human players (which given their speed suggests that the mechanics of the game themselves are the problem, not human skill).
Anyway, I have to say that this game starts out great and I could see it doing well in competitions where completion is not necessary but remember that fans will complete your games and may not stay fans if the game drops off in quality as one progresses through it... this is a real problem in clicker games, time blocking games and AAA games that playtest only the first few hours of their games because after that no refunds are possible.
Thank you so much for the extensive feedback! Just so i can understand the feedback correctly: Which version did you play? browser or downloadable? Post jam or jam submission? We made the game in 3 days and then took a few days of that week to balance, polish some things and fix some bugs. From the description it does sound a bit like you played the jam submission.
Apologies for entirely forgetting to specify my system information. I installed the game using the itch.io app in Windows 10 which I believe usually makes it the latest available version of the app... but I've just double checked and it looks like it defaulted to the Jam version, so yes, I will need to double check this lot - apologies... I be back to you with what I can find once I've played the latest version. I have to say I'm a little perturbed as every time I've had reason to check previously it was indeed the lastest version installed by default, I wonder what happened this time?
Okay I've found why the PostJam version is not the default to install. The Jam version's data file lists the Jam version as having been updated 26th November, 2023 but the PostJam version is listed as having been created and updated at 23 May 2023 so the app finds the latest version to be the Jam submission and therefore installs that by default and it is not obvious from the interface that there are other versions... indeed the "Install" button is visible once seeing the very top of the page so someone my never see the list of versions before deciding to install the programme and then the drop down for other versions exists whether there are other versions in that dropdown or not and so it is not clear if a programme has an alternate version without active clicking on the dropdown to find what other versions there are.
All this means that since your latest updated version (according to the metadata the app uses) is the Jam version that was "updated" 26th November 2023 and so that is given as the default (by the looks of it). I presume that, if nothing else, you "update" the PostJam version this issue will be fixed nd you'll stop getting so many reports about the Jam version! ;) <3
Ah, now i understand the logic behind it. The installer will probably choose the first entry in the list that matches your OS. The jam build was older than the post jam (which makes sense), but it was listed as the first build. I fixed that, thank you for the info! That should make many player experiences better.
Amazing game! I wish it had a save system as it did take me three hours to complete, but I had a very good time :D The update system for the birds is very well though out in my opinion and the art style is absolutely wonderful!
I love this game, it's relaxing and the art and soundtrack are so beautiful and lovely. Perfect to play while waiting something, or when you want to relax. It makes me feel cozy <3
Really the only thing I can say I missed a bit is what everyone already suggested, a way to save the progress, but tbh not finishing it will make me play more so I won't complain lol
What an unforgettable work in "gaming as art" this birdy arcade management game was ! Totally deserves some "unique game concept" award on indie games events )
Absolutely love the game!! It's so entertaining without having to be overwhelming, having a comforting feel to it. As I've read from other comments, you've got your hands full now, but I would love to see more things (a full version & a saving system) added in the future!
Until then, I'll keep enjoying it as it is (´ ε ` )♡
This game eats GPU like nothing else. Is it just the web version? Because it leaves gpu at 99% and nothing else can be done on my pc. Nvidia RTX A3000 6GB Vram
ah, it might run without a frame limit, i'm not sure (has been so long!). I don't even remember if it is supported ingame, but if you activate vsync it should be fine.
While it's a wonderful game I wish it had a save function since its extremely prone to crashing. This is being typed out after I just lost all my progress due to a crash. Otherwise wonderful game!
This game was so fun, I played for hours! Only thing is I wish there was a save. Prior to downloading, I played on the web and the game would occasionally crash which caused me to lose my data and become underwhelmed. Overall really great game, would love to see you guys add on to it!! Can't wait to see more from you guys! :)
I made an account just so I can say how much I enjoyed this game! It had the right balance of task management and relaxing atmosphere for me.
I had some crashing issues with the PostJam version as other people have mentioned. Eventually was able to get a successful session in on my third attempt and meet the beautiful queen. To anyone reading, there is no save function in this version but you can pause with the menu screen. My sessions were about 2-3 hours.
I hope you find time to revisit this (and maybe develop a full version please) in the future! I'll enjoy Dome Keeper in the meantime!
Thank you, appreciated! Sorry about the buggy state, i wish we had the time to do a bug hunting round. But we got our hands more than full right now. My hopes are the same though, that we'll be able to expand this and make it a full game :)
When I moved a nest I accidentally click on wrong nest so I press Q because I thought it will cancel but after that the nest I choose disappear, when I check the bird I see it still in the desk but I can't see or interact with the bird, I try to use the "move a bird" again and click all over the house but still nothing.
Hope you understand what I'm saying because I tried to use google translate but it just keeps getting worse :/
there are like a bunch of bugs like when you try to remove a birds nest sometimes the game completly freezes but overall amazing jam! i would love to see this turned into a full fledged game
It's so fun ;-; please, please please can you make a save file option, even just a .txt for the desktop? The game seems to crash about a month in and I really wanna beat it!
Really cute game. Love the art! Took a few minutes to figure out the controls, so some tutorial pop-ups would be nice. I'd also love to be able to save and come back to this. Without a save function, I don't think I would play it again. Lots of potential here, though!
Just give us a save function and make it available on Mac eventually pretty pls. There are other bugs to this game which have been mentioned, none that crucial. I do think all payments and penalties should auto accept at the end of the day though because you can just never accept penalties if you want too. :> Just here for constructive criticism.
why there is not a save function??? it most likely takes fairly some time to finish it not everyone has the free time to finish it in one sitting? this is so weird I truly don't understand the logic behind it
This game is great however there is a bug with the moving nests function. When I move a raven's nest onto another raven's nest (on accident of course) the game says the raven is still there but it is not visible or usable anymore. Overall awesome job though! I love this game!
I really love the game! But the duration calculations are unclear. If I give a 150 km letter to the starting raven with a speed of 95 km/h, I would expect the time to delivery to be a little over 1.5 hours. Instead, it's 3.1 hours and I haven't the faintest idea why.
This makes it a little hard to make sure I'm picking the right birds for the job which is rather distressing -- Queen Isadora has demanded the best of avian logistics after all!
Returning distance too, if distance from post office to destination is 150 km, then the total distance for a trip would be 300 km, the 3.1 hour check out for a raven with speed of 95 km/h.
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Right, this is an amazing game but could be so much better if there were not so many weird GUI issues, bugs and two odd choices.
GUI: Mixing the mouse and keyboard feels weird to start with and gets downright horrible later on with lots of birds, even the keyboard is objecting since pressing two keys at once often/always locks the vertical movement out and you slide awkwardly along the horizontal. Having to go to the bottom and then to each bird (especially pigeons) for each message (even when messages are grouped) is cute to start with but gets frustrating fast with lots of messages and birds... I spent more time giving messages than I did anything else in the game and paying attention to deadlines was not worth it beyond half-way through the game... make sure your birds are upgraded and just send them with the right size package plus don't take on the apothacary or the other short deadline patron... not worth the trouble because there is too much time just trying to get message to birds in the roost.
Bugs: Upgrades to birds cost nothing despite what it says. Birds taking twice as long as they should (occassionally but impactfully in the case of multi-parcel deliveries, especially with the queen given the hit to reputation is at least twenty well sent packages... plus the time it takes to do so given the decline in reputation over time. Looking at the bird seller screen when they leave the page makes it so you can't leave that page ever again... this is a HARD RESET BUG. Kernels seem to jump in price by ten times once you go into buying them individually (whatever the price marked) - I was within days tens of thousands in debt due to having run out of kernels... no the price being charged for kernels was not matched by what was being charged automatically. Going into debt doesn't end the game? It is not possible to leave debt though as the cost of kernels far outstrips your ability to make money.
Design choices: keyboard plus mouse. no save function. little to no information on the main stat in the game (reputation), it seems to be impacted by debt status, failed packages (by a huge degree) but not improved for delivering early or for larger deliveries (because four stork delivery a day ahead of time is entirely normal for a forge!?! Never mind four note deliveries over 1400kms on the same day - and that wasn't even a short deadline!?!?)
I have to say this feels a lot like a game that was always playtested from beginning to end (given the lack of saving this is even less surprise) and therefore the start of the game experience is very good and then the end of game experience is a terrible mishmash because little problems magnify to become big problems because the choice of "difficulty" curve was "all of them" (more packages, more reputations to maintain, more birds, less time (caused by a slow and inefficient UI) and way too much information that just can not be parsed in time... I would challenge you to create an automated bot to play this game to the end without having the same issues as human players (which given their speed suggests that the mechanics of the game themselves are the problem, not human skill).
Anyway, I have to say that this game starts out great and I could see it doing well in competitions where completion is not necessary but remember that fans will complete your games and may not stay fans if the game drops off in quality as one progresses through it... this is a real problem in clicker games, time blocking games and AAA games that playtest only the first few hours of their games because after that no refunds are possible.
All the best and keep on improving :)
Thank you so much for the extensive feedback! Just so i can understand the feedback correctly: Which version did you play? browser or downloadable? Post jam or jam submission?
We made the game in 3 days and then took a few days of that week to balance, polish some things and fix some bugs. From the description it does sound a bit like you played the jam submission.
Apologies for entirely forgetting to specify my system information. I installed the game using the itch.io app in Windows 10 which I believe usually makes it the latest available version of the app... but I've just double checked and it looks like it defaulted to the Jam version, so yes, I will need to double check this lot - apologies... I be back to you with what I can find once I've played the latest version. I have to say I'm a little perturbed as every time I've had reason to check previously it was indeed the lastest version installed by default, I wonder what happened this time?
Okay I've found why the PostJam version is not the default to install. The Jam version's data file lists the Jam version as having been updated 26th November, 2023 but the PostJam version is listed as having been created and updated at 23 May 2023 so the app finds the latest version to be the Jam submission and therefore installs that by default and it is not obvious from the interface that there are other versions... indeed the "Install" button is visible once seeing the very top of the page so someone my never see the list of versions before deciding to install the programme and then the drop down for other versions exists whether there are other versions in that dropdown or not and so it is not clear if a programme has an alternate version without active clicking on the dropdown to find what other versions there are.
All this means that since your latest updated version (according to the metadata the app uses) is the Jam version that was "updated" 26th November 2023 and so that is given as the default (by the looks of it). I presume that, if nothing else, you "update" the PostJam version this issue will be fixed nd you'll stop getting so many reports about the Jam version! ;) <3
Ah, now i understand the logic behind it. The installer will probably choose the first entry in the list that matches your OS. The jam build was older than the post jam (which makes sense), but it was listed as the first build. I fixed that, thank you for the info! That should make many player experiences better.
Guys this is amazing but im begging for a save game mech!! (and maybe more content because this I the perfect cozy game).
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Absouloutely perfect!
Very nice.
love the game! unfortunately, it always freezes up after I unlock the queen
Amazing game! I wish it had a save system as it did take me three hours to complete, but I had a very good time :D The update system for the birds is very well though out in my opinion and the art style is absolutely wonderful!
Love the game so much (honestly i wish there was a save button) but it's really nice love it pls expand more
:D
there was a bug were a letter got stuck on the wall and i couldn't pick it up?
I love this game, it's relaxing and the art and soundtrack are so beautiful and lovely. Perfect to play while waiting something, or when you want to relax. It makes me feel cozy <3
Really the only thing I can say I missed a bit is what everyone already suggested, a way to save the progress, but tbh not finishing it will make me play more so I won't complain lol
I love this game so much, I would love it even more if you could save your progress! Other than that, I love it!
i really like this and would love to see a save function
One of the best games I ever played. I would love to see updates!
What an unforgettable work in "gaming as art" this birdy arcade management game was ! Totally deserves some "unique game concept" award on indie games events )
Absolutely love the game!! It's so entertaining without having to be overwhelming, having a comforting feel to it. As I've read from other comments, you've got your hands full now, but I would love to see more things (a full version & a saving system) added in the future!
Until then, I'll keep enjoying it as it is (´ ε ` )♡
Add a save system
This game eats GPU like nothing else. Is it just the web version? Because it leaves gpu at 99% and nothing else can be done on my pc. Nvidia RTX A3000 6GB Vram
ah, it might run without a frame limit, i'm not sure (has been so long!). I don't even remember if it is supported ingame, but if you activate vsync it should be fine.
While it's a wonderful game I wish it had a save function since its extremely prone to crashing. This is being typed out after I just lost all my progress due to a crash. Otherwise wonderful game!
Please add a save function!!! What a wonderful game!!
This game was so fun, I played for hours! Only thing is I wish there was a save. Prior to downloading, I played on the web and the game would occasionally crash which caused me to lose my data and become underwhelmed. Overall really great game, would love to see you guys add on to it!! Can't wait to see more from you guys! :)
One thing only i want to savee my progresssss
I've been really loving this game since I played quite a while ago, the gameplay and overall look is so fun and I love the concept.
Keep up the good work!
I made an account just so I can say how much I enjoyed this game! It had the right balance of task management and relaxing atmosphere for me.
I had some crashing issues with the PostJam version as other people have mentioned. Eventually was able to get a successful session in on my third attempt and meet the beautiful queen. To anyone reading, there is no save function in this version but you can pause with the menu screen. My sessions were about 2-3 hours.
I hope you find time to revisit this (and maybe develop a full version please) in the future! I'll enjoy Dome Keeper in the meantime!
Thank you, appreciated! Sorry about the buggy state, i wish we had the time to do a bug hunting round. But we got our hands more than full right now. My hopes are the same though, that we'll be able to expand this and make it a full game :)
LOVED THE GAME
who wants a save function
MEEE
at least an auto save to allow reloading after a crash
More fun than I expected :)
for some reson in web the audio is really glitchy
Can you please allow us to save the game i hate restarting
I concur, it is really annoying getting far in the game just to have to restart and pray get good birds again.
exactly i had like 5k and when i entered it went to 0
It took about 2-3 hours but I finished it :)
When I moved a nest I accidentally click on wrong nest so I press Q because I thought it will cancel but after that the nest I choose disappear, when I check the bird I see it still in the desk but I can't see or interact with the bird, I try to use the "move a bird" again and click all over the house but still nothing.
Hope you understand what I'm saying because I tried to use google translate but it just keeps getting worse :/
This is *such* a sweet game! But it crashed for me at around day 14 :(
I still had so much fun though!! Hard recommend
there are like a bunch of bugs like when you try to remove a birds nest sometimes the game completly freezes but overall amazing jam! i would love to see this turned into a full fledged game
bro i think the game crashed
still an amazing game pls fix bug i would love to finish the game
It's so fun ;-; please, please please can you make a save file option, even just a .txt for the desktop? The game seems to crash about a month in and I really wanna beat it!
🥺🥺🥺
I LOVED it!! I haven't been so captivated by a game in a while and I just had to finish it! Also the graphics and the lil birds were all so cute
Really cute game. Love the art! Took a few minutes to figure out the controls, so some tutorial pop-ups would be nice. I'd also love to be able to save and come back to this. Without a save function, I don't think I would play it again. Lots of potential here, though!
Just give us a save function and make it available on Mac eventually pretty pls. There are other bugs to this game which have been mentioned, none that crucial. I do think all payments and penalties should auto accept at the end of the day though because you can just never accept penalties if you want too. :> Just here for constructive criticism.
why there is not a save function??? it most likely takes fairly some time to finish it not everyone has the free time to finish it in one sitting? this is so weird I truly don't understand the logic behind it
Because this is a game jam game ;)
Implementing a save is way beyond scope of that and takes some days to do.
incredible game for a jam. Great job, man.
Why not do file saves like cookie clicker where saves are codes for each thing
idk
This game is great however there is a bug with the moving nests function. When I move a raven's nest onto another raven's nest (on accident of course) the game says the raven is still there but it is not visible or usable anymore. Overall awesome job though! I love this game!
I really love the game! But the duration calculations are unclear. If I give a 150 km letter to the starting raven with a speed of 95 km/h, I would expect the time to delivery to be a little over 1.5 hours. Instead, it's 3.1 hours and I haven't the faintest idea why.
This makes it a little hard to make sure I'm picking the right birds for the job which is rather distressing -- Queen Isadora has demanded the best of avian logistics after all!
Returning distance too, if distance from post office to destination is 150 km, then the total distance for a trip would be 300 km, the 3.1 hour check out for a raven with speed of 95 km/h.
Mac compatiability please?