Psychground

As I understood in the presentation the game would be a single story line that the player has to progress through, am I right? The idea of iterating the same level with some changes is original. I can imagine at each level you should move the objects around, solve some puzzles based on the NPCs dialogues and so on? I liked the atmosphere changer to reinforce the level change and the psychological play, maybe you can add some other clues from iteration to iteration, like some trees that grows to reinforce that a lot of time has passed suddenly, some object that has turned old (like the banana) or in the other way around, like placing an apple on the floor to get a tree in the next iteration (playing with the idea of looping time), or leaving some bread crumbs to get the full loaf in the next iteration. Maybe also in the music or sound effects (e.g. the steps get quieter or softer or disappear, the music maybe could also get quieter or get a bit darker). Keeping a childish-naive aesthetic I also think is plus. Overall I think that the highest difficulty relies on having a compelling story that get reflected in the gameplay.

The main character looks already so cool and the idea of the game is interesting but probably hard to portray. Have a look at narrative desing and try to build mechanics that can depict the trauma or struggles of that childhood. There is so much room to tell an interesting story! Take references from Omori and other games that handle mental health and trauma. Looking forward to this! I hope you dont lose your Discord again hehe

This has a lot of potential. A well written story with this kind of player integration can hit you in the guts grab you and not let you go. I wonder how the puzle mechanics work tho, you don't really go in depth in the document. Like are they a series of minigames ovelaid on the screen when interacting with something? Or are they like in world space puzzles, like pushing boxes around with the character to access certain spaces. Or even environmental clues puzzle. You guys specify movement and items so is it gonna be an RPG maker-like inspired progression? You went into great detail about the transition between scenes and the loops, but didn't really elaborate on what you do while in the park. Any of these could work great with the theme, but I'm interested to see your vision. 

I really like the concept behind Psychground. The looping playground as a metaphor for unresolved trauma is powerful and fits the “Road to Nowhere” theme perfectly.The visual and emotional inspiration from Limbo is clear and well-executed, and the dynamic atmosphere changes really help build the mystery and feeling of abundance. I'm especially curious about how the dialogue system will fit in. In my head you can eliminate this part and introduce visual cues that will be part of the narrative. Children have a strong imaination and it would be cool to reflect it in the game as well instead of dialogues. Looking forward to playing your game!

Feedback Pitch:

- Strong concept

- Functionality similar to *The Stanley Parable*

    -> Some of their tricks might also work for you

- Don't quite see how exatly the puzzles will work

    -> A lot of design effort will have to go into them

    -> possibly playtest even before the official playtest

- Scope looks good, as long as you don't add too much content

Very unique concept that tackles topics that are under explored in gaming in my opinion. The sanity effects sound like they will add necessary tension to the gameplay and contribute to the game feel. Do you go through all puzzles and decisions in one playthrough or are some gated behind certain branches? The narrative will be very important to get right so I hope you nail it. I'm a fan of Octopath's HD-2D art style so I'm looking forward to seeing the final release and playing it.

Immediate pluses for me:

• Game idea and story idea / interpretation of the theme
• Dynamic scene atmosphere
• 2.5D movement 
• Character design

Overall the game looks very promising and I love the games you drew inspiration from, can't wait to see how it turns out and try it myself

The concept sounds really fun and thrilling, and I am very curious how it would turn out to be. I hate games leaving players thinking after finishing the game, but that would just mean that the game is so interesting, so that would be a very good thing if that happens. The revisions between playgrounds is interesting. I can imagine that maybe trying to make the progression between playgrounds might be challenging, but it would definitely be a very well-made game if the distorting cycles are well implemented.

Technical achievements look doable and great. Technical achievements 2.0 might be a bit harder to implement, though I would assume that it's more of a "nice to have". Overall, great game idea pitch and wish you all the best on the development.

I absolutely love this concept. It'll be one of those games that makes you deeply ponder, long after you've stopped playing.

What I like:

• The deeper meaning of the game and the extended metaphor for the complexities of childhood trauma.
• The sanity meter and how it changes the environment. It reminds me of Don't Starve, in which shadows come to life when you go insane.
• The fact that you never really get an answer as to what happened, which ties into the theme very well.

My concerns:

• How many puzzles will there be? As others have said, how easily you can finish this in a semester will be largely based on the number of puzzles and the storyline.

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

What I Really Like:

• The way you interpreted the given theme.

• That you’re addressing a topic like childhood trauma.

• The dynamic scene atmosphere.

Challenges:

• The game will heavily rely on the impact of the visual changes between the different black boxes in order to avoid feeling redundant.
  However, with the dynamic scene atmosphere and the visual effects you described, I believe you can create an engaging game with a strong story.

I like the idea a lot, the aesthetics remind me distantly of Fran Bow! One question I have is how exactly the black box works - is it a sprite that follows you around or is it a static object? What happens if the player touches it or tries to interact with it? How exactly does the black box "disappear" when solving puzzles?

Really love the strong emotional theme and the looping playground concept. Also the dynamic scene adjustments with the color pallette is a very nice idea!
The 2.5D mechanics are a super nice idea and can turn out very cool.

im curious about the black box, what does it acutally do, does the player interact with it in any certain way?

- Like the topic you guys tackle with the message about children and trauma.
- As far as I understood, the game is very linear. The player traverses from one map to the next. Creating different paths and endings could be interesting here especially in combination with the dialog consequences.
- Having Emma put her items somewhere at the end of every map and then needing to recollect them at the start of the next one could increase the feeling of being stuck in the same place.
- Looking forward to seeing the visuals of your game.

I like the narrative and atmosphere, sort of giving this eerie vibe you are stuck in. I think you made a good use of the theme "road to nowhere" with the loop mechanic. Also I'm glad to see people are tackling "puzzle" as a genre because I feel like it's one of those that are really tough to get right, but if you do manage to make it work it will make for an excellent game! Really cool artstyle too; I like the fact that it seems like you already have yourself a protagonist.

2.5D visuals are often overlooked and I totally love it.
Maybe I oversee something but I cant imagine this blackbox in the playground but I'm convinced your first prototype will make it clear.
The course theme is really well interpreted and reading your report already makes me feel stuck on this playground

Good message — I can see the Limbo inspiration, which is a strong starting point. I really enjoyed that game too, so it’s a good reference.

I also think it’s a smart move to focus on just three well-made levels for this project. It gives you a better chance of delivering something polished.  

One question I had: apart from the music and colours, will the dynamic atmosphere changes affect gameplay in other ways? For example, will it impact character movement or the types of puzzles the player encounters?

Very much looking forward to playing this on Demo Day!