Silvi by nardandas
Welcome to Silvi. A little game about growing plants! Every 10 seconds the plant grows. Meanwhile, you can use your tools to shape it!
Enjoy the little story, and shape plants for a nice little couple~
Or just relax and shape a random type of plant your own way!
Post your favorite plant creation in the comments!
See below for instructions on shaping!
INFO: For some folks, it seems the plant renderer doesn't work on their hardware/browser. Please try another browser, or download the game. Very sorry!
POST-JAM FIXES:
-10/4/2022: FIXED THE MUSIC PLAYING, FIXED THE SUN AND WIND GETTING STUCK TOGETHER, FIXED THE BUTTONS ALWAYS PRESSING ON RIGHT CLICK, ATTEMPTED TO FIX THE ISSUE SOME USERS WERE HAVING WITH PLANT RENDERING
-10/9/2022: THINK I ACTUALLY FIXED PLANT RENDERING - FIXED WORD IN STORY MODE - FIXED MISCOLORATION OF WHITE TRESS
-10/12/2022: FIXED PLANT MISCALCULATING SUN POSITION SOMETIMES
Note - v0.0.1 windows build is the genuine first released build still
| Link | https://nardandas.itch.io/silvi |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/silvi |
Ratings
| Overall | 145th | 3.972⭐ | 128🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 533th | 3.435⭐ | 125🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 82th | 4.032⭐ | 126🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 493th | 3.75⭐ | 128🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 143th | 4.28⭐ | 129🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 126th | 3.955⭐ | 123🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 637th | 2.74⭐ | 104🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 24th | 4.427⭐ | 125🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 109🗳️ | 183🗨️ |
It seems a little implausible to grow some custom flowers from scratch for a date *tonight*, but I can suspend my disbelief on that front.
I didn't read the description properly at first, so I was a bit confused (especially as to what the fan & wax did), but I found I could breeze through the early levels if I placed the fan underneath the pot. (I also tried to put the tools back by right click, but that ended the level -- which also threw me for a loop in the beginning.)
Lastly, it wasn't really clear to me how the way I shaped things resulted in either leaves, flowers or stems. A little primer on plant growth may be required for those of us that don't have green fingers! :sweat_smile:
There is another reason I like this one so much and that is because it is very similar to an idea I thought up in the long ago, but couldn't conceptualize how it would actually play ... but you made it work, so now I don't have to anymore :slight_smile:
Also there are errors in console:
webbuild3.framework.js:3 ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
But wow, this is beautiful, and really innovative. The 10 seconds feels like plenty of time to pick a tool and make changes, but also fast-paced enough to keep the plant growing at a steady rate. I also love how the art jiggles around -- which I'm sure there's a technical term for -- and the screen transitions are awesome.
Best mood I've experienced so far. 5/5
Not all the games this jam worked well with the 10-second interval, but here it gives it a really nice calm contemplative vibe that I like a lot.
Also I like the cat on the done button :>
It didn't work on Chrome (couldn't see the plant) but it did on Firefox! Maybe you would like to tell users in the itchio page?
i love it
Wow. Where to begin? This game was a breath of fresh air that was really welcome while I was making my way through a ton of jam entries! It was nice to have something peaceful and not very demanding in between your typical brutally hard jam game. The visuals and audio all came together to make a definite VIBE. I'm hoping to see you get top marks for MOOD! MOOD Trophy! You deserve it!
Thanks for sharing this.
I'm very glad I stuck with the game to the end though, *SPOILERS* it really hit me hard as I was just casually making a funny looking tree right before the tragedy :cry:
Lovely game, very high marks for mood! And cute kitty.
And since no one else posted pics, here's my ridiculous flower monstrosity!
The UI and window framing was perfect on my device otherwise!
Super cute and realxing. No rush in doing anything.
Just enjoy the moment and the growth of the plant, it's a quite meditative experience!
But about the game itself - it is very good. I grow chili peppers myself and I found a lot of familiar concepts in this game. It is a real joy to watch the plant grow and see how you can affect the growth with different tools the game offers. I really like these type of games that are like a playground for the player to learn a skill. The skill does not come artificially by adding new abilities to player - all tools are there and the player learns by doing and exploring the game. Later you can come back to the first level and see how you have learned along the way.
The game could have potential after the jam. Growing plants is a difficult hobby and there are a lot of concepts from real life that could be explored in this game too. Great work, one of my favorites this jam!
However, I like the core idea and the way the jam theme is implemented, since it goes against what you would normally expect (frantic rhythm with a 10 seconds time limit etc.). Considering the genre, both graphics and music were on point.
Hope to see it fixed in the future - meanwhile, good luck with the jam!
I followed your account on ldjam.com because I really would like to try your game. If you figure out the bug, and manage to fix it, I'll be super happy to play it!
I had a lovely experience, this was relaxing and perfect before bed. Congrats!
Cat for the done button? Perfect. Menu and flowers animation for scene change? Even more perfect.
It's so sad. See comments that everyone likes and not have a working game.
I tried it on two browsers and downloaded it.
Very nice and zen entry :)
Good luck for the debugging!
I understand that it's really too much to ask for a game jam, but some kind of evolutive music that would change with the plant could add somme dephth to the game, and the UI could have some very minor improvements (it easy to cut a branch when you just want to "move the sun" for example). But that's me being too hard on your little game.
It's a real gem, and I'm super happy that you fixed it, and to have played it. That was wonderful, thank you for making and sharing this little thing.
My only issue was just how tiny points were to click and it requires a lot of precision that I'd imagine anyone with any shake to their hands wouldn't be able to manage, but I think you could solve for that by allowing people to zoom in to the plant and get really granular with their decisions, and would make it feel even more like you're a bonsai artist carefully studying your plant.
The game feels like it could be very meditative but if that's the goal then I wonder if the timer is even needed anymore. It could be interesting to play with allowing players to make their changes then allow them to progress time when they're ready to see the results of their work. That way the anxiety of time pressure isn't undoing all your cozy work you've created in your theming and design.
Really sweet entry! I love that others have made "cozy" games with a theme this frantic
I'm currently stuck on "lots of different colors". I can't seem to get more than three. Am I missing a trick there? (I was also having trouble getting lower flowers until I started taking out my frustration on the top ones and the game was like "Good enough!")
As for gameplay though I will say there at least to me, didn't see to be too much I could do every little bit to influence the tree. It was mostly just waiting, although that's likely due to the fact that it seems like the tree doesn't actually grow every 10 seconds, it just attempts to, which lead to a lot of stretches of time without it growing.
That and I wasn't entirely sure how each tool might let me get the result I was looking for if that makes sense. Since I could impact it but I don't really know what each change does to the rest of the tree. Ex. the trimmer it shrunk the tree, but does that make the other pats grow faster does it prioritize regrowing the trimmed part etc. I'm not entirely sure.
So maybe a little more clarity in explanations as to h9ow the tools impact the growth of the tree for example. Ex. it sounds like trimming branches lower down can cause faster growing up high. Which I wasn't sure about, I thought might work, but I don't know enough to really say.
Otherwise though a nice short little story with a very calm atmosphere and a chill gameplay loop that was nice to just play and chat with people.
Absolutely loved the vibe.
And the way the plant mesh was generated - wow, that's very impressive!
I didn't manage to finish the game :(. The game crashed in one of the later levels, once one too many branches and leaves showed up. It took quite a long while to reach that point, so I don't think I'll be doing it again, but it was a lot of fun!
The way the sun shined on the plants and the way the fan pushed it away was absolutely gorgeous.
My objective wasn't always very clear, so at times I felt like I was sort of throwing things around hoping the level conditions would pass through, but it wasn't too bad, as the Zen aspect of the game was good enough to carry it over.
I love everything about the visuals. The line boiling, the color choices. Super well done. The way things get crossed off like a list is really cool!
My only complaint is that the tree levels take a pretty long time. Other than that, flawless.
Oh, wow
It's really work now
Nice work :smile:
When the plants got bushy and complicated, it could be hard to click on a point you wanted. But, as it's not a rocket science ;), even misclicking could have interesting results.
The achieved objectives being crossed-out is great - really neat idea. Well done on the game!
The pinnacle of my life's work
My magnum opus:
The Spike!
Beautiful!
Inspired by Prune maybe?
The transition screen with flowers is so nice too.
What engine did you code this in?
I admire the innovative part too.
You guys definitely should continue building games!
You got my stars, thank you very much! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I completed the story and also played the zen mode. Fun tools to play with. Sometimes the plant grew a little too slow for my taste.
Cute art style, with everything bobbing around. The transitions are also very nice. I love how the timer has 10 lines in stead of the normal 12. :smile:
I had fun with this one:
My last plant had some unexpected different colored branches, I was not sure if this was on purpose, because they were drawn on top of some leafs.
@3lstmsinatrenchcoat The story mode not requiring much shaping was kind of a consequence of the amount of time I spent on it... it was all done in the last few hours. I wanted to have more complicated goals but you know, jam games! Thank you!
@remco So sorry about right click ending the level - that was a little bug. The buttons checked for left OR right click... but right click didn't care if you were mousing over the button. Little bit of an oversight! To tell you the truth, most of what makes the flowers/leaves grow is either chance, or pretty unrealistic. The idea was to experiment, but I probably could've led a little better into that. Some levels go quite slow. Thank you!
@notnasiul They were, kind of. They were basically L-systems, but with a ton of extra mushy state to make the rules a bit more expressive, plus a little bit of a system for rolling what to grow next, giving me the ability to nest "roll each", "pick one" and "pick at least one" things together. I use this part to create the petals. Thanks for playing!
@etrealjunior Thank you so much - and a big hug to you too!
@rosypenguin I love the plant - it's beautiful! I absolutely get it on the plant taking quite a long time, as I said in a previous comment, the story came quite late and I didn't test nearly as much as I should've, particularly on timing. I do also like the idea of being able to encourage leaf/flower growth - and communicating how that works better. I'm honored by your remarks on the mood - your team's games are always fantastic in this respect! Thank you so much!
@ruruie I only realized I should've put the explanation of the tools *inside* the game afterward - too late! Thanks for playing
@boaheck-artgent The idea about showing the gift giving is... interesting. I'm kind of of two minds of it - I like the way people can play these words out in their minds in their own way, but it would absolutely be really cute. The issues with overlap are unfortunate. I find the overlap can make the plants look quite good, but I'm even now not fully sure how the tools should really work with it. Anyway, thanks for playing!
--
I've read everyone's comments as they've came in but I've kind of waited until now to reply and thank particular bits of feedback... I don't really know why. Anyway, thanks to everyone I haven't called out in particular too! I really appreciate all of the plays and comments! I'm very happy everyone is enjoying the mood, this is the first time I had a real concept I executed well on and I'm extremely happy with the result!
@capitals Thank you so much for playing the game on your stream - your suspicion was right - on some growths, the plant miscalculated the position of the sun!
@jmad That was very near the end of the story - I'm sorry you had that error. Of all of the errors I've seen that's a unique one and one I seem to have glossed over when it happened - sorry about that! I'm happy you enjoyed the game until then, thank you so much for playing!
@rage-paint-games Thank you so much for playing this on stream! I had to take a call partially through your playthrough, but I went back and watched and got your feedback, it's super valuable as my exposure to this stuff is mostly through gardening and not bonsai-type stuff. I do plan to add a few more bits to the game, and once the rating period is over will be releasing a little update making the game a bit smoother!
@chocolat-endive First - thank you again for the help in fixing the game, I'm really glad you got to play it! Thank you so much for your kind words on the game. I'm very happy the mood I went for game through so well! Thank you for your comments and suggestions as well - I'd have never thought of adaptive music but it would be so cool! I'm so happy you came back and tried the game after the issues!
@marjagil I plan to continue on it! I didn't really think of that angle but I'm very much committed to the calm mood. Of all the ideas I've had for the game I've thrown away half because I don't want to put the player under any pressure. Having such a clear vision really helps me!
@deprecat Thank you so much for your zoom suggestion, and the framing around it. I'm interesting in the clock suggestions, I might have to play with this... Thank you so much!
@monika The cat requirement is inspired by my own cat! They're always little problem beasts but they're so frickin cute. There's no real trick to the "lots of different colors" level. There's two different stems on the plant, one red and one white and yellow flowered, and they grow flowers once they're far enough from the base. Thanks for playing!
@beetlebox I'm so sorry about the crash. I kind of decided a maximum number of pieces of the plant and then didn't check for it. I assumed nobody would reach it but that was a horrible assumption. Thanks for playing! I think the goals could've used progress indicators to indicate when you gained progress toward them.
@itsboats The spike! Thank you for playing it on stream - thanks for the feedback!
@mr-rice I had never seen Prune before but what a wonderful source of future inspiration for the game! Thanks for bringing it up and thank you so much for playing. The game was created in Unity, with a lot of custom stuff around the plant. I basically modeled the plant as a collection of nodes, then created a mesh each frame from those nodes. The way the plant grew was all fancy stuff too. Fun stuff!
@papaver What fun plants! Thank you for playing, I'm really happy you experimented with the plants. The red one did stuff there I didn't even consider possible! I agree the growing was a bit slow, I should've had a kind of "minimum growth" every 10 seconds. The second one was an (extremely) hasty attempt at something like a birch tree, and the darker parts are just a part of those... but they look quite different. Happy you appreciated the transitions too, lots of little bits of polish there.