Together by Ulcius
Keep a certain relationship alive!!
INSTRUCTIONS: Each screen contains simple hints, but it's your job to figure out what to do to keep your relationship alive in better and worse times :)
EDIT: Thanks to @gamer-fates I now uploaded HTML5 version. He ported it out of pure kindness of his heart (check out his you tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnuFJ4tigQxhOvMwCuvJhzg) . So if you are playing on mac or just don't want to download it - feel free to play the web version! There is a minor issue I dicovered in that version though. The animation of hearts are not always proper - so be aware of that when playing please, cause it may change your perspective on story a tiny bit.
I wanted it to be a COMPO challenge at first, but I also wanted to chill a little bit and play FF7 Remake ;) So it turned out to be Normal Jam instead. And since it's normal jam, i skipped doing music, whoopsie. Done all the rest though. I am pretty glad with the outcome. I tried to show something important, you are the judge if i managed to do so :)

Ratings
| Overall | 1199th | 3.51⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1738th | 3.076⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1163th | 3.315⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1193th | 3.681⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1043th | 3.755⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1430th | 2.651⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 522th | 3.777⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 74🗳️ | 68🗨️ |
It's very complete and has many great ideas, so well done !
Really good entry! Lots of feels!
@krakadushka thanks!! I got few feedbacks saying this particular level (gift exchange, right?) is too hard. I updated game and now it's a lot easier if you care to check it out.
Liked the hand drawn art style and overall mood of the game. Audio is nice and the mechanics tie in nicely with the various parts of the game which is cool. Good job!
I really like the puzzle with "There must be something I can do" mixing narrative with gameplay brilliantly :)
No criticism here a really solid experience!
@gamer-fates Thanks a lot! I used Game Maker Studio 2.
@ecmjohnson @adam-clayden @shardykins Thanks a lot for good words and the input about the argument section. I had the feeling it was a little bit too cringy, but was in a hurry with finishing that section. But now i see it definitely need some changes and that i need to somehow give player a choice to lead this conversation more peacefully (with similar outcome though). I am super motivated to do it better ^^
@junber Thanks a lot! That's a great idea, I will do that!
@blaster391 @daniel-whittaker @robotsandmuffins @roz @brachistosauro Thank you all for a kind words! It makes me super motivated to further work on this game and make it better :)
Here is the project https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBEFqfDY3o-GIn50RbSEpswfAwme0GNr/view?usp=sharing
email:m.shahiri.m@gmail.com
my LudumDare Game:
social-distancing-for-ladybugs
https://gamerfates.itch.io/together-html-zip
password: ld46
You need to upload to itch as an html -zip and it should work.
Also if you don't mind check me out on youtube consider subscribing. LD46 video coming out soon. : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnuFJ4tigQxhOvMwCuvJhzg
The conversation in the third cycle was the most interesting, it felt like the first time where there were meaningful choices, to ask questions or communicate your feelings or make requests. I wish that part had more focus, giving the player a chance to apologize, or set boundaries, or just listen to the girlfriend character's needs. At the end screen, it felt like a very unhealthy relationship, so I decided we should each go separate ways. The ending still felt like a let-down, I was hoping for some kind of epilogue.
The art was quite good throughout, and I liked how it changed throughout the game. I think the gameplay for most of the minigames was too long and drawn out. I thought about playing through it again to see other endings and dialog, but I really didn't want to sit through more silence and handholding. The happy/sad music felt a little too obvious. It also started to get repetitive as the game went on. I would have rather had some ambient sound that could change for each minigame/scene. The voice sound effects also sounded a bit strange and got repetitive as the game went on.
As for gift exchange i wanted for it to feel like it's both a sign of love but also a small competition. I wanted to show that relationships are not always about fluffs and unicorns. Some relationships develop habits which comes from love, but end up slightly unhealthy (like the presents). And in every relationship people end up fighting sometimes, telling things they regret in a spur of a moment. Thus i wanted to show that even after doing something to fix it (giving a part of your heart) it's not always and not immediately enough to fix it, cause the wounds remain.
But after your comment I realized my basic mistake to make it more or less 'first person' game. Instead of telling : 'this is a story of (certain) relationship' I told player: this is game about you. And that may make people uncomfortable with some sections. As for now the only thing I can do, to slightly fix that, is to introduce the character at the beginning of the game. Can't really redo whole first person perspective now.
I also subscribed to your youtube channel, looks promising, can't wait for ludum dare video.
@mehrdadsh I already played your game, very cool one!! I am also programmer/game designer! This art was max of my abilities (and a good tools at that), but i won't pursue career of a graphic designer for sure, ha ha, thanks a lot for the offer though, it means it turned out pretty nicely then :)
Playing through this was a strange mix of emotions for me. I don't usually like relationship games but the pacing here was really good, and the mixture of minigames helped to keep things from getting boring. I didn't enjoy the context-less conversation options though... at the start I felt like a creep and during the "fight" it felt like I was just abusing her for no reason. I understand what you were trying to do, but it needed context, otherwise it just makes the player feel like an asshole.
However, I took a step back an tried to let go of those feelings in the understanding that this is a game jam game, and I'm sure you weren't trying to make me feel like a creep or an asshole :)
On my second play through things felt a lot more different - I gave context to the conversations myself (was of saying goodbye for work each morning, and an argument over going to a friend's party). This made the minigames after the fight have a deeper meaning, I felt sorry for lashing out and had to work hard to make it up to her.
Annnnnyway, yeah, this game definitely made me think a bit about what makes a good relationship game and even though I don't usually like them, what kind I would prefer to play. So, thanks!