This game is either a Stressed Life Simulator or a journey of fulfillment and personal growth.
Twitter @bear_cabin
CONTROLS Left/right: move Up: interact, select
KEY FEATURES -Your own desk -Days that will slip away from you -Yearning for more -At least you have a job you ungrateful millennial -There is an ending, I promise
CREDITS
Most things by me except: -a couple sounds by the great folks contributing to freesound.org, like thearxx08 -music composed by WA Mozart
TOOLS USED -Pixen (graphics) -Audacity (sound) -CFXR (sound) -Garageband (music) -fromtexttospeech.com (voices) -Gamemaker: Studio
I was attracted by the title. Visuals and sound effects are very nice.
Gameplay wise, I had little input on my actions except for the time passing (kudos for the day/night cycle, by the way :)) and the heart depleting/filling up. For example, I could go to work at 1 AM and it made no difference. I'm unsure if that was intentional as a metaphor of modern life or I just lost my patience too soon and there was more to it.
However, as I said before, I really appreciate the idea and aesthetics, well done!
The aesthetic to the game is really nice, the art and animation is fantastic. There wasn't much consequence to the game-play but it was still interesting to play. Maybe the looping on the audio could've been a bit better.
This game comes close to being interesting and meaningful, but falls short because the gameplay is woefully lacking. I can walk back and forth and do some things, sure, and it's really a beautiful little world to walk back and forth and do things in, for sure, but there's no coherency. Why do things have the effects on your health bar that they do? Are the three different worlds correlated in some way? It seems like things deplete my health more quickly at some times than others, but I'm not sure, because nothing at all is made clear to me. What purpose does the workplace or the cabin serve in the gameplay? In fact, why go anywhere at all when I can alternate between the computer and my bed and have the whole thing done in a flash? It feels like there is some interesting idea struggling to be conveyed here, but I have no way of knowing what that's supposed to be.
You've got the aesthetic nailed down pat. The game looks great - the art is wonderful, and the little details (from the time of day to the way that the skyline slides away as you walk to the cabin, as well as the background audio) make the whole thing fit together in a nice way. The world of the game is engaging, but the game itself just isn't.
I'm not sure how I feel about this game. The art and sounds were nice, but I think one of the biggest problems was that there was no direction. No matter how many actions I did, I never felt like I was moving towards any type of ending. The day/night cycle was cool, but there were no differences in action based on the time.
A neat little take on the concept. Once I figured out I could fill up my heart just by eating I got into a little loop where I just ignored work and ate and created (and cleaned but that was accidental). There were really no repercussions for missing work and not sleeping, unless you count the distracting presence of the flashy "work" text (which might be part of the commentary here). I loved the character creation bit, and the audio was very well done.
*spoilers* I feel like working has no effect, I could arrive at any time at work or stay at home, coworkers were not even caring. Also not sleeping for days is apparently ok. Not sure if intentional. But the conclusion is nice, creating is good :)
That title :> I loved this. Your use of audio is awesome, all of the soundscapes really put you there. I felt stuh-ressed in the office, but going to my own Walden... ahh. Simple game, but it's focused and cynical and warm, and has something to say. Great job.
There was a great idea but I think the project needs polishing. You can't starve or die from no rest. Also there is many posibilities for jokes and comedy.
The graphics are pretty nice. I like the fact that you can customise your character. Sounds are good as well. Not much in terms of gameplay, but as a simulator, it worked really well. Some of the simulation features may have been a bit simplified (for example, it might have been nice if staying up very late resulted in you waking up later the next morning), but that's kind of a necessity in this type of game.
So yeah, I enjoyed this a lot. It gave me a break from life and maybe made me think about new things.
Spoilers below:
I felt a real thrill once I realised that I could go right from my house; very immersive. And once I was nearing the end on my masterpiece, I stayed up way past "bedtime" to finish it. Again, felt very much like something I'd do in real life.
Gameplay wise, I had little input on my actions except for the time passing (kudos for the day/night cycle, by the way :)) and the heart depleting/filling up. For example, I could go to work at 1 AM and it made no difference. I'm unsure if that was intentional as a metaphor of modern life or I just lost my patience too soon and there was more to it.
However, as I said before, I really appreciate the idea and aesthetics, well done!