Familiar Bones by barryrichter
An adventure game where you help a witch find her missing husband.



| Itch.io | https://emmagsmith.itch.io/familiar-bones |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/familiar-bones |
Ratings
| Overall | 267th | 3.835⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 525th | 3.431⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 503th | 3.35⭐ | 109🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 438th | 3.803⭐ | 111🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 193th | 4.241⭐ | 112🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 495th | 3.132⭐ | 104🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 142th | 4.061⭐ | 108🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 90🗳️ | 184🗨️ |
OMG, I absolutely love the look of your game! Creating such a sense of space using just black and white is really impressive! And I adore the animation of the cat—it’s especially well done when you press "E."
Unfortunately, I got stuck at one point... when I pressed "E" to dismiss the text, it triggered the text again, and I couldn’t progress. Do you have any tips on how to get past that? I’d love to keep playing!

One thing I'd like to see is maybe a smoother change in scene when you move in the hole.
Great aesthetic overall!
P.S. It's MORBING time! xD
I encountered several game stuck moments and reloaded a few times! something that might help is a second tone used to show a path you are expected to take so there is less getting stuck on level bounds
gasped so hardddd!!didn't expect such a sweet ending. great job!
Really wholesome game with nice artwork (I absolutely love 1bit pixel art)! The dancing animation at the end was soo cute <3
Thank you for your helpful comments! We just did a few bug fixes and would love if you gave our game another play.
@sockenpuppe @marra @nonigirl @nanamaki @ssiannas @erasemenot
We love getting to hear what you think of the game!
Thank you,
The Familiar Bones Team.
One nitpick: please think of adding arrow keys for movement, or use a system to not hardcode your keys, so that players from other countries with different keyboard can play easily :)


I got stuck here twice. If you go back to talk to the witch, with the claw, when you press E in the last dialogue, it triggers a new dialogue again. So, the trick I managed to pull off to get out is to press and hold the opposite direction while pressing E, because that way, Pata doesn’t trigger the conversation again.
The other time, it happened at the gate again. I used the same trick to get out.
Anyway, I found the text delightful, the blending of art with that somewhat melancholic music in the background, and you get to play as a cat—something that's always welcome. 😄
P.s. pumpkin carving was a really nice touch!

A non-game related nitpick: the background image of the viewport on itch blends in to the actual game, making it a little confusing to see where to go (and fullscreen doesn't display properly on a widescreen monitor).

Unfortunately got hard-stuck at the bat section unable to move, but really enjoyed it up to that point. I loved the touch with the pumpkin carving, and the bat's dialogue absolutely sent me :')
I know you didn't make the music, but it was a really cool vibe across from the art. Love aesthetic and feel throughout. :)
It's Morbin Time
The characters are very cute and the mood is amazing. Nice!
The colliders are really unforgiving though. I got stuck permanently three times and had to restart, was able to finish it on fourth try.
There's not much gameplay in it, but the cuteness makes up for that!
Cannot nitpick a single thing, to be honest : ))) The lack of sound effects actually *works for* the game with its minimalistic style. You did something very unique here. Animations, art and puzzle elements fit perfectly. Congratulations!
And the mouse ran off to eat somewhere! :mouse: :corn:

But either way, here's a pumpkin I carved! :jack_o_lantern:
This was quite a cute game!
Thanks for making this :)
I loved being able to carve the pumpkin, but my favorite image is this one.

Thanks for your submission. Not all submissions are able to provide emotions, yours definitely did. well done <333

I will give this another go to see if I can make more progress. Anyway, a beautiful game you've given us.
The art is amazing, the atmosphere is incredible, and overall a joy to play.
As opposed to others, I do think SOME amount of SFX and or music could help, but, for a jam game, this is already absolutely incredible!
Thank you for your again helpful comments! We just did a few bug fixes and would love if you gave our game another play. @shadowmitia @detectivelosos @beastwood @lachlan-james @tastical
We added:
- Arrow Key Support
- Updated Hitboxes
- Some automatic interactions for smoother gameplay
- Removed swapping character into softlock bug
- Improved look and feel
We love getting to hear what you think of the game!
Thank you,
The Familiar Bones Team.
I loved the creature switching mechanic, but I started the game feeling a little salty because the face I drew on the pumpkin wasn't what I saw in the game scene after I was done carving it. 😅
Thank you all for the amazing support and feedback over the course of the game jam. I know that there isn't much time left but we just posted an update were your pumpkin carving stays. We would love if you took one last look at it.
@nanamaki @broheartttv @detectivelosos @lachlan-james @pijinguy @sofia-miglan @dis0rder @laywelin @osh-studio @samuel-hollywood-summers @helperwesley @savi @deadroach
Thank you,
The Familiar Bones Team.
Well done not giving up on the project after the jam and adding all those quality of life features! The story is still sweet as before and my time with the game was once again pretty Morbin.