The IT by troll_hunterX
Keep the IT alive by feeding it red things. Win by feeding it something special. Made with Godot, Photoshop, Bfxr, and Audiotool. Also finished in under 24h

| Youtube | https://troll-hunterx.itch.io/the-it |
| Youtube | https://github.com/PatrickCaughey/TheIT |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/the-it |
Ratings
| Overall | 837th | 3.053⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 901th | 2.737⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 579th | 3.211⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 205th | 4⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 693th | 3.158⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 644th | 2.794⭐ | 19🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 757th | 2.219⭐ | 18🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 299th | 3.5⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 7🗳️ | 2🗨️ |
If the beast you're protecting had a bit more life that might be helpful too. More time to explore and understand the game. I get that you're supposed to be time and health constrained, but that was a bit too much.
I found that I could keep him alive if I just kept running to the apples and back, but then I'd miss an apple because I'd drop it on him rather than feeding it to him and I'd be back to 1 health again.
Combining the controls could really improve the gameplay in a lot of ways. I think you can combine grab/drop pretty easily. Make it impossible to drop manually, but make it so you automatically drop what you're carrying when you pick something else up. That would free up a button and make the controls more wieldly.
What I did like about this game though though, was the atmosphere and Zelda-esque design. That was super cool and has potential to be a very interesting game aesthetically. I felt like I was literally in the starter stop of the original NES Zelda... except everything was much darker.
Picking up apples after they fell from the tree appeared to not pick up immediately until I had moved away and come back at times. With the fast pace of the game the controls need to be really responsive.
I found the cherry to the south annoying with the placement of the kiln like thing as I would often get caught on it.
The music and sound effects were really grating, I ended up having to turn them off when using my headphones. They work well though with the general aesthetic of the game but it would have been helpful if they were either a little lower in volume or a means to lower the volume in game.
But the time you're given and the ones the fruits give you is too short to do much exploring. Maybe I'm feeding wrong, but the cherries don't seem to lengthen my lifespan.