Witch Upon A Star by WhaleJam
After eating a mysterious mushroom apprentice witch Stella turns into a ghost. Now she has to figure out how to return back to normal. But it seems that her time is very limited - if she does not return to her body in time she will stay part of the ghost realm forever.
Every 10 seconds a star will disappear from the sky, and once they are all gone...

Changelog: Reuploaded to fix a sprite on the main menu
| Link | https://weefairyfabi.itch.io/witchuponastar |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/witch-upon-a-star |
Ratings
| Overall | 737th | 3.362⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1069th | 2.776⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 987th | 2.845⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1174th | 2.554⭐ | 30🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 45th | 4.517⭐ | 32🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 428th | 3.115⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 47th | 4.276⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 24🗳️ | 35🗨️ |
I see you mentioned in the comments above about the stars being the play on the 10 second theme. The dialog in game does hint that the stars are being removed, and I don't think it's necessary that the game blatantly just say "every 10 seconds". However, even after talking to all NPCs and wondering around for a little, I was still able to finish with what seemed plenty of stars remaining. So while the danger of losing all stars over time is there, in the end it didn't feel like I was in any rush for it.
Solid entry over all, really enjoyed the atmosphere of it.
The environment is gorgeous, and the level is well-designed: That sudden death was early enough that I didn't feel cheated or frustrated at falling off the map, and was just careful later. Good stuff!
Hope this is not too rambly of an answer and thank you very much for your feedback!
The gameplay itself was a bit lacking. The world is 'on rails', so you can't really go anywhere but where you're supposed to. As a result, you can't get lost and run out of time - there is no tension that is supposed to be there, as you are after all in grave danger of staying a ghost forever. Maybe a different premise would suit the created world better. Or make a more complicated and convoluted world for the premise we have :)
BUT PLEASE, remove rating in theme, fun, and humor! I definitely don't want to rate this game low. But I should, because of these categories, but I don't want to, but I should:((( Guys, please, this game is not about this!
Anyway, this is a good job:)
The first thing is that the character/avatar is really up front and center, almost the size of a visual novel art. This put you in the character's shoes more, not to mention showing off the art which of course was excellent.
It also affected some of the path choices and feelings when you took them. The lower path on the far forward/left area I remember feeling claustrophobic because I was walking into the camera. Because of that, I thought this would be the correct path and you as a designer purposely wanted to make it uncomfortable to travel on. ...the path ended up throwing me onto a normal path anyways haha, but I still thought that was an interesting consequence to the mechanic.
So in the end, this game came off to me like a 3D VN of sorts, especially since the paths were almost literal branching paths. I think you are on the right track to something pretty interesting if you continuing honing it.
Possibly the most aesthetic game I've played so far but that goes without saying :)
I wish there would be a bit more music, and I would have loved more interactions or stories in the game.
The ambiance was also nice, and the atmosphere somewhat reminded me of the Stranger at night in OuterWilds.
But the detail like the waterfall fx or the way the character rotate when going different direction is just very sweet !
The art is great. The game is really cute.
Overall cute stuff!