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A jam submission

StemsView game page

An atmospheric puzzle game about growing vines to reach hidden places.
Submitted by bluzi (@bluziGamedev) — 1 hour, 5 minutes before the deadline
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Stems's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#14.5454.545
Theme#74.4554.455
Accessibility#113.5913.591
Overall#123.7993.799
Graphics#164.0914.091
Audio#213.6363.636
Fun#243.5913.591
Controls#1112.6822.682

Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Godot Version
4.4

Wildcards Used
One Hand

Game Description
An atmospheric puzzle game about growing vines to reach hidden places.

How does your game tie into the theme?
The game is all about growing vines.

Source(s)
No, but feel free to DM me with questions!

Discord Username(s)
@bluzitm

Participation Level (GWJ Only)
3

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Comments

Submitted (1 edit)

Love the idea and look of the game. But, I can’t get past the first grow the vine to get to the ledge part. If I grow when looking up, I almost get there, but fall back down. If I try to look to the wall to get some horizontal movement, I don’t go high enough. /shrug

Submitted (1 edit)

the control scheme is a bit weird, but I think it adds a lot of charm to this unique game, and it works well with the growing mechanic — it feels great to have that kind of control over the vine growth. also, I appreciated how I could use RMB+LMB to shrink a vine while moving down it. overall I’m glad you took inspiration from the one-handed wildcard.

I love the visual style and the perspective tricks it afforded. it felt almost brutalistic at times. all of the audio is simply superb. in the end this felt more like an exploration game than a puzzle game, but I don’t mean to be pedantic about genres in the jam comments. amazing entry!!

Submitted

I couldn’t figure out how to grow vines :(

they kept ending up in the floor or walls

Developer

It’s a bit tricky. The controls had the most opportunity for improvement out of anything. You have to look in the direction you want the vine to grow. Hope that helps! Thanks for the feedback :)

Submitted

I tried, but it didn’t work for me :(

Submitted

Ctrl + F: Antichamber
Zero hits? Huh. Well, I'll make the comparison if no one else's gonna - this game reminds me of Antichamber, especially the parts after you get the variant of the gun that lets you drag lines of cubes around. Same idea, and executed just as well!
Shame about the One-Handed wildcard making the controls worse. Other than that, I have no notes (though I'd like to take a peek at the shaders involved. Also, did I hear different footstep surfaces?)

Developer (1 edit)

thanks for the feedback! My discord is bluzitm if you want to DM. There are really only two shaders. One for edges, and one for the vine wiggle. I can send you them if you want. For the footsteps I just play a different sound if you’re climbing a vine

Submitted

Really awesome game! I love the minimalist art style, it looks super striking. The puzzles were fun to solve and I think the vine growing mechanic is very cool. I think I would've preferred to be able to move with WASD, the fact that clicking made the vines grow and move me forward made it a bit awkward to move around sometimes cuz I was unintentionally growing vines in the process. Very impressive work, great job!

Submitted

Good visual and mechanic. Run really well in the browser for a 3d  game

Submitted

I am blown away. Five stars. This game is brilliant. Great minimalist art style and sound design. Marvelous puzzles. Perfect use of the theme and the one-handed wild card. Just all around amazing. No notes.

Thank you for making this game!

Submitted

Very nice game ! The sound, originality, and graphic of the game were incredible. Sometime the vine weren't going there i was looking at and found myself having to re-do the game because the vine grew in the wall. But I really liked the game.

Submitted

Very cool game! The vine mechanic is super interesting and unique, especially with the one-handed movement. The movement did feel a biiit janky though and took a bit to get used to, but was still fun to solve all the puzzles!

Submitted(+1)

This game is great but the "One Hand" wildcard seems forced. It was difficult for my "WASD" brain to adjust to left click movement. The puzzling is fun and the graphics are super well done. Unique concept and great level design makes this a fun game :)

Submitted

nice game, my feedback would be find a way to make controls intuitive [maybe on controls on screen] removing the need to read the texts

Submitted

So creative and unique! loved it. Great Job 

Submitted

Neat! I haven't seen an experimental puzzle game this unique in quite some time. Your implementation of the controls to fit the one-hand limitation worked out great. Strong aesthetic too. Nicely done!

Submitted

This is really cool! The vine-growing mechanic is super interesting. I found it a little tricky at times, but overall had a blast.

Submitted

this looks so cool! i wasn't sure on the controls at first but i grew to find them intuitive

Submitted

this looks so cool! i wasn't sure on the controls at first but i grew to find them intuitive

Submitted

Great game! Looks amazing (even with the limited artstyle). I found the controls to be quite finicky and it took me a while to realize you have to stand next to the vine and simply look into the direction you want to grow.

Wow, very fun! I'm going back and forth over whether the One Hand wildcard added or detracted from the experience, but while it was a little awkward sometimes I think it made the game better in the end. Wish I had submitted a game so I could rate this, it was great!