Let me just open by saying that I have not read Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt," but according to others, you made a good adaptation, so good for you. My lack of knowledge of Bradbury's book might have led to my confusion during; however, I believe that a game should be playable without by everyone, regardless of their knowledge of any source material you may have used.
My biggest problem with this game was the fact that I got through about half of it (having talked to the kids once at the beginning, and then another time after a day I believe, getting similar text both times), all the while thinking that doing the chores by myself was tedious, but fine (after all, the chores are done at the press of the button, which is what I thought the game was about). I then get to about the middle of the game, and the wife says that the kids are acting out (or something to that degree), and I am completely bewildered, since the children I knew were nice and accommodating the times I spoke to them, admitting that it was fair that they do their part around the house. The next day I go to the intercom, and these children have completely changed from the children I knew at the start. It appeared that from playing the game my way, I had missed out on a part of the story that I could not go back to (and I really don't wish to go through this game again to figure out what I had missed).
Expand this problem further. Say that another player thinks "hey, I see that the intercom is a complete waste of time. The only way the story moves along is by cleaning up all the rooms, so I will do only that." The plot development would seem completely illogical to them, more than it was for me. They would progress through the game, probably wondering "who are these kids, why are they acting out all of a sudden, and what is wrong with this nursery, did I miss something?" get to the end and think "that ending made absolutely no sense whatsoever."
I know that was a bit long winded, so I will try to make it as concise as I can right here: if the player can make a choice that would make them miss out on something important to the story (in this case, the children's development), then you need to change the game so that the player still gets this information in some way, or at least encourage them to do certain things (for example, the husband told the wife that he needed her to clean up the house, and he could do it with the push of a button, you could have put in some thought bubble having the mom think "hey, I could probably use some help with this cleaning, let me call the kids," or better yet, block progress in the game until the mom talks with the children, like you did until the rooms were clean).
On a side note I spent a good 7-10 minutes in the nursery the first time, trying to see if there was any end to it, collecting as many of the diamond things as I could, saw that the game wasn't progressing any with it, and decided to leave and never come back, thinking it was some distraction from the main story. Looking at other reviews, I now see that might not have been the wisest decision.
Now, for some more concrete things:
Gameplay: Simplistic controls, which I like. I do feel like the mother moved a bit slow for my liking, and that the room cleanings were tedious because of the slow movement. I cannot complain about everything being done at the touch of a button, because this appears to be set in a futuristic world.
Art: Pixel art really isn't my thing, but I do have to give you credit for the art in the nursery; this might be the only reason I would play this game again, seeing how much work you put into floating islands and the lunar backgrounds. All of the other things seemed plain in comparison, and if this is what you were trying to convey (that the beauty of a world created of imagination trumps that of the real world), then I must give you props. The fact someone (I believe the husband) said that the room was controlled by thought left me perplexed when for half of the time I was in there, there was only savanna; I expected that the world would change more often (or that I could change it back to the moon level).
Other: I like the ending and the foreshadowing up to it. Here I believe you thought of the actions players could make here and accounted for them all. Congratulations. I do believe that the fade to black took a bit too long, but I shall leave that to your own artistic license.
You can take my review with a grain of salt if you like, and I apologize if I came off a bit harsh at any point. I understand that many of my problems might never have existed had I read the short story beforehand (I plan to read it now), but I also know that I would have had other problems with the game had I done so. Perhaps I might play through the game in the way that *you* intended, but at the moment, I am not inclined, and I feel that I shouldn't have to in order to enjoy a game.
3/5
