Soul of Seasons by shimmerscale

When the Soul of Seasons is shattered during a storm, the forest is thrown into chaos as the seasons shift between every ten seconds. Play as a dryad named Ivy to find all four shards of the Soul and restore balance to the forest. Carefully observe the world around you--the path forward may be hidden, waiting to be revealed when the next season arrives.
Controls: Use the left and right arrow keys to move and press the space bar to jump.
Bug Fixes: Fixed ending triggering before all shards have been found and character getting stuck in corners, jumping up walls, and getting stuck on falling animation and obstacles.

| Link | https://shimmerscale.itch.io/soul-of-seasons |
| Link | https://github.com/EGollahon/Soul-of-Seasons |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/soul-of-seasons |
Ratings
| Given | 27🗳️ | 32🗨️ |
Thanks for making this game.
I had some bugs with the walls tho, could simply jump up the wall to the right by holding right key and jump, also, after i got 2 pieces i tried jumping up over the start platform, fell and got stuck inside the start platform wall to the right, couldn't jump nor walk anymore - gues your walls need a little fix ;D
Otherwise liked the art and the idea.
Some idle game to wait between seasons (like when you miss and have to wait for next fall to gain access to the upper level...) would be nice.
I got stuck on the far left wall.
Very nice entry ! the atmosphere of the game is very comforting and goes well with your game idea, great job!
If this would be a full game, an on demand weather change would be a great ability.
I love the concept and the art, theme and mood were great. However, Im a terrible platformer and had to try a few times to get up on the block there and 3/4 times, I got trapped in the pile of leaves? Weird collision issue.
I think my main complaint would be the jumping physics. When Ivy jumps, she maintains all her upward momentum until she reaches an arbitrary height or you let go, and then she immediately falls back down with the same amount of momentum. I would expect her to slow down as she approaches the apex of her jump, which would make some of the game's precision platforming a lot easier and less fiddly.
Overall, though, this was an enjoyable experience. Good job!
I like your graphics style and the music is calming and whimsical! The controls are intuitive, I did not need to consult the 'how to play' section in order to know what to do.
**Some feedback to make it even better!**
- In the winter: some kind of slippery surfaces would have been nice
- The water: teleporting back bit strange, but I can see why you did that. Maybe another, more elegant option would have been to make the player get stuck in the water (and magically pop on top when it freezes)
- When completing the set, it would have been more fun that the player needed to traverse back to the trunk
**Some other points:**
- I like the punishment for falling down and than having to wait for the right seasons to come around in order to make it back
- I like the lack of a timer, it somehow gets more risky trying to jump to the flowers in spring
It is a very complete package. It has a game that can be completed in a short play session. It has clean pixel art and even an original track that is interesting enough that it does not feel jarring. Even the theme is clearly visible here! There were some interesting changes between seasons like freezing water that I really liked - I would have hoped to see even more of those.
What it holding this game back is the level design. It is a major design flaw that the player can often proceed only during one season. And this repeats multiple times in every path the player can take. If you fail one jump and drop down, you may have to wait up to 30 seconds to start the path again. This happened multiple times for me and I was very close to stop playing every time. I think the level should be designed in a way that the player can always proceed at least after waiting season to change once. Longer wait times can be allowed if they lead player to a secret or a hidden shortcut.
Platforming was ok but jumping could use some work. Apparently it was made by adding to the rigidbody position as long as you hold the jump button (to a limit of course). The more you press space the more distance gets added. This feels quite weird and you can even push yourself against platforms for a moment - this makes jumping almost feel like you have a jetpack with a limited amount of power. I was able to complete all platforming sections with the jump but especially the left-most one was quite annoying.
But overall, as a Compo entry this is still a very solid game. Great work!
The worst part were the excruciating waits (sometimes 30 seconds!) for the right season to come (while the music was a bit repetitive for that matter). I wish there were alternative ways to pass each obstacles at each season so I wouldn't have to wait. But otherwise really cute entry!
That said, I like the graphics, and it feels well polished. I enjoyed playing.
A fast forward button might be the solution to waiting 30 sec. It might also be good to have a season indicator (@astrid's "Town" game does this well). Nice job getting this done in 48 hours!
The chill atmosphere was fun and fit well with the art.
I felt that the jumps were set too high, and the control was a bit hard for me.
Also I didn't like to wait so long for the environment to give me the item I need. I understand that it was because of the theme, but maybe if we could at least keep the items we alread found to shorten the wait?
Nice visuals and music there!!
I have a suggestion that you can make a "waiting" key that speed up the game so you do not have to wait half a minutes if you miss a jump. that's what i did when i to make "10s a season" as well, but i changed to "10s a whole year" because i want to make my jump level more continuously.
also checkout my game if you like!
Enjoyed my playthrough, even there were moments of waiting (like what Haotian suggested, a wait key would be nice).