A Taste of the Past by Emily Pitcher
Our game is Cooking Mama meets side scroller meets a wholesome story about hope. A Taste of the Past is about reconnecting with your mother's culture through food while navigating a train that goes deeper and deeper in time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUx7KbNABUQ
Controls: WASD or arrow keys to move. E to interact and advance dialogue/other parts of the game. Mouse to select dialogue choices and for the minigames. ESC for settings.
IMPORTANT: If you get stuck on the second train, you need to go to the left of the great-grandma and wash your hands. After you've spoken to the great-grandpa, walk to the left until you see the task show up. To clarify, the handwashing minigame does not trigger until you've spoken to the great grandpa because he's the one who tells you to wash your hands. Another thing is you must advance through all the dialogue in one train cart before moving onto the next or else you may get soft locked.
You cannot advance to the next train car until you have completed all of the minigames and talked to all of the characters in the current train car.
For the deaf and hard of hearing community, our ending has voice acting but no readable dialogue. To access that, go here: https://imgur.com/VyzexIL (Spoilers)
Credits:
Writing: Emily Pitcher Instagram, YouTube, Itch.io, emilypitcher8@gmail.com
Art: Isabelle Szeto Twitter, Julia Lee Instagram, Jaimi Qiu Twitter Instagram, Caroline Wang Instagram
Programmers: Richard Cheng Itch.io, Johnny Wan Itch.io
Editor: Kelvin Nguyen
UI: Caroline Wang Instagram
Music/Sound: Caio Jiacomini Instagram Twitter Itch.io
Voice Acting: Grace Lulu Fang, Mei Tam Instagram
More games by us can be found at https://twitter.com/sonderingstudio
Special Thanks: Dennis Woo, Ray Hsiao Itch.io
Ratings
| Overall | 191th | 4.021⭐ | 144🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1005th | 3.286⭐ | 142🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 596th | 3.493⭐ | 144🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 427th | 3.996⭐ | 144🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 82th | 4.5⭐ | 147🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 37th | 4.371⭐ | 145🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 67th | 4.364⭐ | 145🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 112🗳️ | 119🗨️ |
I.... honestly don't know what to say after that........
This game made me feel a whole range of different emotions.......
> Our game is Cooking Mama meets side scroller meets a wholesome story about hope.
Oh yeah. The whole time not only was I listening very carefully to every beautiful written and spoken word, this was also full of nostalgia. Reminds me of days long ago when I would play Cooking Mama with my family.
I remember seeing that the old Ludum Dare site had a cool feature where you could give people trophies. I think it needs to be remade for ldjam.com.....
Now I'm hungry.
###### Mei wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes at the end of the game......
Now as you how this game effected me emotionally all I can say is. WTF DUDES. I JUST WENT FROM PLAYING A GAME ABOUT A DOG DIGGING HOLES TO CRYING ABOUT DEAD MOTHERS. I have a standing desk. Do you have any idea how it feels to cry at a standing desk. Its not like I have a chair I can sink back into I just have to stand here and weep like a crazy person. I mean don't get me wrong I loved playing this but I was not ready for the feelings that where gonna come at me. This game was the definition of "Try not to cry... Cry a lot". So 10/10 you made a grown man cry while standing at his desk.
TL;DR Very good game. I'm not crying your crying.
In spite of all these great things, one of the things I like most about this experience is that it could resonate with someone going through something similar to what Mei is going too.
Great work, guys!
I absolutely freaking love this, and I know you will do very well.
Very, very well done. No other words. Only tears.
I'd prefer if the speaking parts of the game had subtitles, and if that can be toggled in the moment. I often play games without sound, or in an environment where it's difficult to hear.
Great job! I'm still blown away by the art.
Thank you!
In any case, at first when I started the game I thought, oh no, this is going to be a sad game isn't - I'm not ready for a sad game. I thought I wasn't going to cry but I did, several times. What a touching experience you have created.
If I could offer some critique, the last minigame where you meant to remember something was confusing to me. I'm unsure if I ran into a glitch or not, but all I saw was red liquid in a bowl and then 3 different colored bowls appeared and I had to fill the big one? I ended up just randomly dragging and dropping the bowls until I completed the minigame, but it seemed like maybe I was supposed to see something that didn't show up. Also, while I appreciate the attempt, I can't say I'm a fan of the voice acting. I feel a story like this is much better told through text, especially when you're dealing with a jam, because voice acting of the quality needed for narrative is likely not going to be possible for something like a game jam. Finally, I don't know if the game was meant to end here or not, but I did seem to be softlocked after the voiced dialogue with the mom. It does make sense for the game to have ended here, though.
Overall, I really enjoyed the game and thought the concept was both unique and interesting. The art and sound really elevate the experience, too, and make it especially enjoyable. Great work!
Music and Art (excluding the walk animation)are easily high ratings. Very nice!
The gameplay was not. I didn't get past the second train car before getting bored.
Maybe I'm just too impatient but I wasn't a fan of the gameplay. Music and Visuals are strengths!
I'll see myself out.
The mini games were very easy, but that wasn't at all a downside - in such a narrative heavy game, I was happy to see that the short mini games within were only soft breaks - almost like breaths in between each section to give you a bit more time to think on the train car you were in and the people you had interacted with before moving onto the next area - difficult mini games would have changed the vibe a lot. The pacing really worked for the narrative!
It would have been really excellent to see the final voice-acted section with subtitles, as I'm extremely bad at following dialogue without, but I'm glad to see you posted the transcript so I could catch up on the sections I wasn't able to follow after - it was a much appreciated consideration to accessibility.
Thank you for developing this game and building this experience!! ☆☆☆☆☆
**+** lots to think about
**+** thematically consistent
**-** The menu buttons were hard to make out from the background
**-** sometimes it was tough to find the next thing to interact with
**-** animations (e.g. walking) would be much nicer with only a couple extra frames
Very well done!
The game literally gave me goosebumps truly a piece of art <3
Great work guys I would rate the game 11/10 <3 Greatt work you guys made my day
I'll say: well done!
The only thing I didn't like was the walking animation. It was kinda awkward and jerky. Did not fit the otherwise smooth and flowing art.
If I had to nitpick, I would say the walking was a bit clunky and a bit slow. Maybe a few more frames to the animation and an little up to the speed would do the trick.
Congrats on this game, it's really touching and so relatable in how to cope with mourning. A wonderful entry
The VOD of me playing this and many other LD games is up now. I'll be doing another stream Thursday, god willing and the creek don't rise!
Thank you for this 💕
The steering was a little bit weird.
Art and music are lovely, the colour palette in particular adds a lot to the warm, melancholic vibes. It all did wonders to take us through the train as we learn about the main character's efforts to deal with grief. And I loved the choice of food as a humble, close way to draw an emotional connection to a loved one.
Amazing entry. Congrats to everyone!
I freaked when I realized the buttons of the main menu adjusted when I resized the window
very very beautiful and charming
very well-executed
now I'm not so fond of graphic novels
so I can't really judge
but at the very end
i poured the sand-coloured sand in first
then nothing would happen
and that made me confused
and sad
but it's a charming game anyway
thanks for sharing, peace out <3 :-)
hidden in the deep. The game was like living in an Hayao Miyazaki movie. Story drived me deeper cars of train.
My only critic is main menu was a bit confusing. Maybe you can make it more basic and buttons can be easy to see.
GOOD JOB I REALY LOVED IT !!!
*brb crying*
Ok I'm back. The colors and the music were so cozy, playing this in the morning with my coffee and orange juice was definitely the perfect move.
I'm sure you already know this but the last puzzle with the bowl has a very little hitbox and it can easily block someone. Not me cause I clicked everywhere, I wanted to see mom.
Thanks for sharing this :)
Sometimes I wish I could have more footage of them.
I really like the concept of the mix between the visual novel style sidescroller gameplay and the cooking.
Great work!
The story is really engaging and the dialog and choices are well written, and the graphics are beautiful!!
Great Entry!!
I did come across a few issues:
* My first time playing I think I did not finish the interaction with the seat, and went to the next car and then I could not interact with anything in the 2nd car, nor go back to the first car, I had to restart the game and start over.
* The last mini-game with the 3 bowls had small unclear hitboxes to I must have dragged the bowls over 20 times to finally "solve" the puzzle
1. Walking animation and walking speed of Mei seem slightly off, she should walk slightly faster for it to feel in sync.
2. When you walk to the end of stage and keep walking, you can see Mei standing in one place, but still playing a walking animation. She should go off the screen completely.
3. The last minigame with the big bowl has very small hitboxes; it takes several tries to get the position right.
4. One of Mei’s legs is glitched out in the scene where she's out of the train.
All in all, this is an absolutely phenomenal entry and I wish you good luck on Steam!
The only part I struggled with was the last mini game with the three bowls, whatever I tried, nothing seemed to work, but after more random clicking the big bowl finally started filling up.
Some of the little details here are nice, especially the little particle effects and small animations help to bring an otherwise-static scene to life. The "minigames" are a bit silly at times (funny how you can wash your hands "too much"), but I kinda get what you were going for.
The music really fits the mood. I'm always impressed by this style of more contemplative and meditative music. I'm no good at it myself, probably because most of my music tends to be more assertive and present. It's something I'll have to experiment more with.
The title/main menu screen, as mentioned, is really pretty but doesn't read well as a UI. I think it's because the entire screen is saturated and vivid, so the viewer's focus isn't drawn anywhere. Maybe try toning down the saturation and/or value on the non-interactable elements a bit, or a drop shadow on the buttons.
Family and moving on from the past are both.......complicated. As such I know everyone brings a different perspective to the table. I think the story you're telling seems to resonate with others, which I think is great. But I can't really comment on it the same way because I think I come from a different point of view. Edit: WAIT y'all are the team who made "Anything For You" omg that makes complete sense why did I not think of that, hahahaha xD
Good work!
This was such a beautiful, touching story.
The artist style, music and settings were really well done. I think my favorite minigames were the vegetable chopping and the puzzle, it was satisfying to watch the bowl and the pan filling up! The little sparkles showing a finished task were really cute, too.
It was a really nice way to wrap it up with the cleaned up recipe page and the cooked meal.
I have so much empathy for Mei, trying to process the recent death of her mother. Each of the relatives had a distinctive personality that was conveyed with posture and dialogue. Everyone felt like a full person who was easily believable that they cared about Mei. I liked the interactions that were offered. You were given permission to remain in denial and anger about the mother's death, or to slowly move towards acceptance. Even if you selected options that seemed less about the mother, they still have a gentle way of relating.
Most of the interactions were done with the keyboard, so requiring the use of the mouse in some minigames confused me. I would get stuck and not know what to do or what key to press. It didn't block me too much but in a future polished version, it might be useful to have more clear guidance on the first few minigames.
Thank you for creating and sharing this experience.
Again, thank you!
This art moved me. The subtlety and the beautiful color palette convey a feeling of very nostalgia. The soundtrack is beautiful and deep. It is beautiful how few instruments and loose notes are not a sense of freedom.
Your story touched me a lot. I remembered my grandmothers and the delicious things they cooked. Even though my mother and aunts know how to make my grandmothers' delicacies, I will never taste the special of their food again.
Congratulations and thank you very much.
Some unobtrusive sound playing along with the dialogue would be nice, e.g. Animal Crossing style (but maybe a bit more somber and faded to fit the mood).
It's perhaps a bit slow but I think I might just not be used to this type of game, and overall this was a really great entry!