I will be like phil :D because my name is phil xD

At first glance I thought it would just be another hamster game where you endlessly run in a circle but in the end it got quite philosophical. I really like the concept and the motivational message behind it. Good Work!

I like how the Hamster is named Phil but also I love the story telling not too much text but enough to know what is going on, well placed and well readable

Nice short story with cute animations.
The squeak sound is in the end a little bit annoying and in the browser i must play on fullscreen see the full text.

So deep! The most wise hamster I've ever encounter. :)
It was hard to pay attention to what's going on on the screen and read the text in the same time, but from what I've noticed, sprites and animations are very well made.

Very cool game :) And a life tip that resonates a lot with my current situation. I hope you found your life purpose a well. Very cute art btw!

@peanud Thank you for being the first to play and commenting!

@xenobey Appreciate you taking the time to play, and your kind comments on the concept and message :)
@preda Great feedback on the story/text, thank you for playing!

@oxropy Appreciate the candid feedback. The squeek worried me; it is actually version 3 of those sounds.. version 1 was a lot more annoying - something I will keep in mind in my audio work in the future. Glad to hear it played in the browser.. honestly at the time you played I was still battling with a build that worked in the browser, and was surprised it even worked for you - good to know about the sizing and text placement; another area to improve on. Thanks again for the feedback!

@yngvarr Thank you for playing! Good feedback; original plan was to narrate.. with a cool Morgan Freeman voice, but I ran out of time and just tossed the text in at the last minute.

@spacemonkey Thanks for playing! It's always a hard balance taking care of those around you, and trying to still follow your passions.. I hope you find a good balance and peace with it soon in your life (I'm still working on mine as well).

This game seems really cool! I enjoyed the start and the music, but for some reason it keeps freezing for me :(
I'm on Windows 10, and have tried in both Firefox and Chrome, with my screen at 100hz and 60hz. When it freeze the graphics just stop moving, but the sound keeps playing (and so it seems the game is still running). Not sure what's going on, but let me know if I can help debug!

Sweet little experience, the hamster was cute and the clean style and camera pans all worked really nicely, I thought the music was also really good and fit perfectly. Nice work

@leekanarchism Oh no! Sorry for that experience and frustration for you. Thank you for letting me know though. I know the download version is solid.. it's just been a constant battle with the WebGL build. I'll try and replicate (I did see it once or twice in earlier WebGL builds.. but I thought I squashed that bug.. guess not), and let you know if I figure out how to resolve it.

@automatonvx <3 I appreciate the kind words, and that you noticed the music and mentioned it! All my previous LD attempts music has been a last minute scramble, and usually a 10min session recording a quick bass line or terrible voice music.. I set a goal to do a real music track for LD47, and spent a good 2 hours on the track - so again, thank you for noticing and your kind words on it :)

Well done short journey. The philosphical aspect was fun to read as well. Music fitted perfectly. The squeking sound was annoying to the end (but it was not a long journey anyway) and like someone said, it was hard to read and navigate at the same time. So I just stud there reading, and then continuing.
In the fly-into-the-space-in-the-screen-center my game got stuck (web version), so I downloaded the windows version and everything worked fine. I'm not sure if I pressed some browser button at that moment - I would say no.

But still. Interesting short journey and it was fun to read. Well done.

Not so much a game as it is a journey (which, well, you DO tell us upfront). It is very interesting information, and I have to admit I loved it. The music fit the calm, curious mood very well, and it was a fun take on the theme. The graphics were simple, yet adorable in the case of the hamster, and the simplicity helped. All in all, I found it a rather relaxing experience, thank you for your submission :)

I crashed twice trying to go up the hill. Not sure what's going on, but i did enjoy the wheel and text on the screen and the goofy face of a hamster trying to CLIMB THAT HILL

@koemeterion Thank you for playing.. twice! I apologize for the web crash, but that's so nice of you to take the time to download and begin/playthrough again! Appreciate the feedback and notes.. very good points, and honestly maybe things I would have discovered if I had done proper playtesting with other people, instead of just my own playthrough experience- obviously a critical step, and I ran out of time to do so.. I will be better scheduling my jams to ensure I include that in the future

@ladymistleaf Thanks for taking the time to go through the experience :) As well as your feedback in other channels letting me know about the web issues. Very very kind words; "I loved it", "the music fit", "fun take on theme", "adorable", "relaxing experience" - all things I was trying to achieve, so it means so much to me that it resonated well and was enjoyable :)

@commanderstitch Thanks for trying it out - and letting me know about the crash.. web version I assume? I apologize.. I did add some warnings to the web version a few days ago based on the feedback I've had.. and I've given up on fixing it unfortunately, I spent many hours and rebuilds trying to get it.. with no luck..

Great journey :smile: and LOVE the graphics! Amazing! And Phil was sooo cute. :laughing:
Also liked the reference to Sisyphus. Great job :thumbsup:

@incd021 Thank you for playing and the giant "LOVE" for the graphics.. but I know you just mean you LOVE the adorable hamster.. as the rest of the graphics are just quickly tossed together cubes.. and the default Unity particle effect.. - and that's okay! As I LOVE the squishy cute lil squeaky guy too! Thanks for calling out the Sisyphus too.. I was trying to actually have you push a boulder up the hill.. but physics.. man.. they're brutal.. it was too risky because in my test/dev work, accidents could and would happen.. which took away from the overall experience.. and just setting the mass to like 0.1 didn't feel like it was a challenge, it just rolled right up the hill.. I never found the 'goldilocks' zone for the right boulder challenge, so I ditched it last minute. Again, thank you for playing and your kind words!

Liked everything about this game, but nothing compares to Phil! haha. Well done!

That was much more thought provoking than I anticipated for a hamster wheel game. I liked the music and Phil was really cute too. Phil has something we should all strive for honestly!

I absolutely love your text presentation. The words themselves were good too, but the transition in and the effects were sublime. I also love the addition of the score in the corner. It caused me to do things that with the context of the rest of the experience I really questioned. Very well done.

Nice music, words and concept. You game is an experience..

Informative and adorable, I love it!

@lrvstudios Thank you for taking time to play it and your feedback :)

@lychee Glad it was thought provoking, that was one of my three main goals.. and you touched on all of them in your review: 1. adorable, 2. better music this LD, and 3. thought provoking - appreciate you taking time to play and share your kind thoughts!

@aevek Thank you! I had hoped to do a voice-over for it, but ran out of time so I tossed in the text for the 'easy' button. I'm glad it didn't appear as a sloppy last minute addition :) The score was a remnant of when I built the prototype.. when there was going to be actual gameplay.. but I left it in to ensure the player would try and progress some, as that progression triggered the 'story/text' advancements.. it was unintentional for it to relay additional context around the message in the game, but I can see how it does, and appreciate you calling that out!

@misterm Thank you for taking time to play and provide kind feedback. It indeed is just an experience.. which on one hand I'm okay with, but at the same time I did really want to achieve fun gameplay to go with the message, but just could not accomplish in time. Definately something I will be shooting for in my future LD attempts; more fun mechanics & gameplay, to accompany whatever story/message I'm presenting.

@rainbows-are-fun Thank you for playing! I'm glad you found it informative and adorable!

A very coherent experience! The music, graphics, and text go well together. I enjoyed it.
One note though: the linux build seems broken, it looks like part of a unity build, not all of it. I used the windows version with wine, which worked fine.

FYI, you should update the download links on the Ludum Dare page to Include MacOS :)

haha, I love this!

I enjoyed how it subverted expectations around gameplay (not being really about the game itself but about being a medium for a short message). I think if it wasn't done as well as it was, that could've come off badly, but the way it worked so well is a testament to the audio and the writing in the game. Well done!

Good little entry here :)

The link to the theme isn't really obvious but as my team and I had the same idea I understand ^^
I had some problems with the wheel going too fast in the falling down part after the "mountain" but no other problems ;)

Cute graphics and nice audio, I really like the last view on the hamster (no spoiler) :p deadly cute

Really nice experience, and some food for thought. Was expecting a game but appreciated what I found instead. Music was great, and did a lot for immersion. Would have liked more of a physics feel to the wheel. Used the Mac build, which worked fine after fixing the executable flag.

Hey RedHermit! That was super adorable and also very relateable, not only because I like the hamster’s name. Music is outstanding too! You already watched me play the game but here it is again, just one click away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkR8lNDoteU

Thanks for submitting! 😊

What a nice little wholesome journey. It was really nice to to experience.

A cool Game and a cool experience.
Well Done

This was super-cute game! Hamster Phil is aspires to be the cutest game character in this Ludum Dare! :)