The day before the harvest by froissant

TOMORROW, THE HARVEST BEGINS!
LAST CHANCE TO CHILL.
It's the end of summer. Discover the lovely little corner of nature where you've chosen to spend a last day of rest before the harvest season begins.
"The Day Before The Harvest" is a relaxing game that invites you to explore a small map with many secrets to "harvest". Will you be able to complete your journal before the end of the day?

(don't worry if you run out of :clock10:, your progress is carried across playthroughs! 💾)

:sparkles: The game is best enjoyed on desktop using a headset 🎧
| | ⌨️ | :video_game: | | ------ | --- | --- | | MOVE | Arrows / WQSD | Joystick | | INTERACT | Space / Enter | A / X | | JOURNAL | J / Escape | LB / LT |
:information_source: Mobile is, unfortunately, currently not supported.
| Web (itch.io) | https://froissant.itch.io/the-day-before-the-harvest |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/the-day-before-the-harvest |
Ratings
| Overall | 113th | 3.948⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 282th | 3.574⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 400th | 3.304⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 691th | 3.098⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 72th | 4.375⭐ | 50🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 51th | 4.064⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 128th | 3.633⭐ | 47🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 35th | 4.234⭐ | 49🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 97🗳️ | 64🗨️ |


Nice job!
@titos2k glad you caught it 😉
@andy-link some are tricky, don't hesitate if you need a hint!
@orhu our apologies regarding the framerate issue you had. We did our best to optimize everything, but it's our first game on this scale and we will use the time post-jam to understand in depth your issue and try to mitigate it in our next jams.
Would love to see more games like this.
Couple of what seemed like graphical glitches for me at the top of the map, I think it's to do with the y-sorting on the trees/rocks/notice board where the player's y value is almost the same. But apart from that it's a gorgeous looking game with great chill music.
I didn't expect to find Gala - Freed From Desire in this :-D
@kromeboy haha glad you liked it! Way to evoke nostalgia 🎶
@pitisek nice! did you find all 30 memories? We save them between runs, so you can complete it later! We didn't have time to make a special screen when you collect everything, but if we were to polish the game that would be one of our priorities.
@fionasprinkles thank you 🙏🏻
There are spots where the collisions are indeed a little janky, but nothing unplayable. I managed to moonwalk away from the legendary fox, which was pretty great.
@epb9000 28! You're closed to the end ! A moonwalk near the legendary fox, that's a poetic performance.
@elflashor You got it, that's a narrative relaxing game to chill around. Thank you for playing.
The univers is incredible ! I love the mood when you walkin inside the map.
The graphist are so beautiful, with all the details, the song and the different quest.
I also like the humor touch with the quest title.
Very good job !
The music and sound were great and matched the aesthetic and vibe of the game well.
The text scroll speed on the player dialog was a bit on the slow side.
I felt the theme was a bit of a stretch as it played more a part in the back story (or after story?) than it did the actual game play.
All in all I think this is a really cute game and great work for a jam! You all did an awesome job.
The mushroom effect is randomized, so sometimes it flashes from zero to a full effect, sometimes it stays on for the whole duration but the effect is less pronounced 🙂
Regarding the theme, it was indeed a bit of a stretch. Our artist initially wanted to do pixel art + have a horror vibe to our game this jam, and we collectively spent more than 2 hours at the start of the night brainstorming ideas around horror games, but we never anything that really clicked. After talking about a game we all played and loved (A Short Hike), I suggested we scrap our current ideas and go for a game without a set goal where you spend your last day of free time before the harvest season and just enjoy yourself. So it's a bit of a stretch, but it helped us get out of a (creative) rut :smile:
Also, can pet a cat, so 5/5.
Great job!
@bo-dangles thank you! Animal Crossing and A short hike were inspirations :smile:
The only thing I'd probably remove are the mushrooms, I think they spoil the experience a little. Eating them instead of collecting... maybe that's the harvest? Haha.

Very zen.