I got 168 11 66 my first try. The key spamming made my hand really tired though so I am not going for a second try. I liked the part where the bear was introduced and the music stops. I had some trouble reading the text because of the moving. Overall pretty good.
Author Comments
Keep it Cozy, Autumn!
Autumn, an Official Witch-in-Training, has used her magic to make her cozy cottage even cozier for her beloved pet, Theodore, by filling it with an endless supply of Halloween decorations and cookies. Unfortunately, some pesky ghosts smelled the cookies baking and came along to investigate. Now that they're here, they've decided to spook poor Theodore while he's trying to take a nap! Help Autumn and her brand new magic wand navigate the ever-growing clutter of Halloween decorations, ward off the ghosts, and feed Theodore his favorite treats for as long as you can before the ghosts wake him up! It's tough work keeping the cottage so cozy, but Autumn is up to the challenge!
After all, they don't call her "Cozy Autumn" for nothing!
How to Play
(Note: This is also explained in-game, as long as you don't skip the tutorial!)
This game is played with the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard controls Autumn, and the mouse controls her magic wand.
Autumn
- Move Autumn up, down, left, and right using the "WASD" keys or the arrow keys.
- Ghosts are trying to spook Theo! Autumn can shoo the ghosts away by touching them.
- Autumn's magic keeps cookies baking forever! If the cookies are done, Autumn can run to the oven to grab the cookies and bring them back to Theo to calm him down.
- If Theo gets too spooked, it's game over!
Autumn's Magic Wand
- Move Autumn's magic wand by moving the mouse.
- Autumn's magic keeps making Halloween decorations show up, and they're cluttering up the cottage! Click on a Halloween decoration to select it, and click in another empty space to move it there. Move the decorations to clear a path for Autumn!
Try to shoo as many ghosts, feed Theo as many cookies, and outlast as many Halloween decorations as you can before Theo finally gets spooked awake!
Cozy Autumn Game Jam (2022)
I made this game for Cozy Autumn Game Jam (2022) over on itch.io, the theme of which was, appropriately enough, "Cozy Autumn." I also stuck to the optional color pallete ("Autumn Glow") and used the optional gameplay mechanic "One Room Only," because why not? :) I made the entire game from start to finish during the jam, including the code, the art, and---the thing I'm proudest of---the music. The idea for the game changed several times before I finally finished it, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do something involving a bear, and something involving some of my favorite Halloween decorations from when I was growing up. Add in that song that kind of wrote itself in my head while I was at work one day (and that I then spent several days actually creating in Bosca Ceoil), and Bear With Me was born!
I hope you enjoy it! :)
MyCousinJimmy responds:
Thanks for the feedback! (And great score!) Yeah, the key spamming and text readability issues were among the more common pieces of feedback I’ve gotten; I probably would have made some changes if I’d had more time, but alas, I didn’t leave myself enough, haha. Glad you enjoyed the introduction of the bear! (I felt like the title screen kinda spoiled the reveal, but I wanted to keep it anyway, haha.)
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Decent game but not an easy one. Could use an advance text option and some volume controls.
MyCousinJimmy responds:
Thanks for the feedback! The difficulty stems from me not leaving enough time to playtest and balance before the jam deadline (so lesson learned there), and the other points are definitely ones I’ll keep in mind for next time!
Cool dynamic music. Nice artstyle, it fits the theme. It's an interesting mixture of various mechanics. I can't judge if they mesh well or not. The music is good.
Having to mash arrow keys to move is a bit annoying.
MyCousinJimmy responds:
Thanks so much! I’m not surprised that you liked the music but weren’t sure about the mechanics; my main goal with this jam was to get the atmosphere right, so I made the music and the art first, but I didn't leave myself quite enough time to actually make the game part of the game. This meant that I had even less time to TEST the game part of the game, which led to some pretty severe balance issues.
I also thought about switching it from "one press one move" to "hold down to move," but I had already coded it as "one press to move" and didn't have time to test out how things would be different if I changed it. (Fair to say my overall lesson learned here is even if the main goal is to focus on atmosphere, always leave enough time to design and test the gameplay, haha.)
Thanks again!
A difficulty option should be available to help newer players with the game
MyCousinJimmy responds:
Thanks for the feedback—that’s a good idea, and one that I hadn’t really considered! I don’t think I would have had time to implement a difficulty select before the game jam deadline even if I had thought of it, but the point is definitely well taken that next time I should be sure to consider how accessible the game is to newer players!
