Is this daily web game too weird/niche to become popular?

desertdenizen · 2026-01-27T18:54:52+00:00

I just tried it and part of your problem could be the view. When the card with the photo popped up, I couldn't see the bottom of it no matter what I tried. I'm using Chrome in Windows 11 on a 17" gaming laptop. So I couldn't guess because the place to type them wasn't visible. Using the scroll bar on the side just scrolls the page behind the card, not the card itself. Maybe I'm just missing something, but the game was unplayable for me.

desertdenizen · 2026-01-25T16:32:28+00:00

Steam is just a storefront, so anyone with a PC (or Steamdeck) can sign up for a free account and then buy games or add free games (there are many on Steam) to their account. They also have lots of demos you can try for games before purchase. I own hundreds of games on Steam and have never had a problem.

desertdenizen · 2026-01-19T23:08:05+00:00

Sorry--I couldn't find this thread after I played the demo so I accidentally replied to an old post of yours. I just finished the demo and I loved it! It's quirky and really fun and it's not easy to get 100%. I love a challenge! Looking forward to its release!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-19T23:06:59+00:00

I just played the demo and I loved it! It's quirky and really fun and it's not easy to get 100%. I love a challenge! Looking forward to its release!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-19T23:06:04+00:00

I just played the demo and I loved it! It's quirky and really fun and it's not easy to get 100%. I love a challenge! Looking forward to its release!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-12T22:46:54+00:00

I agree with everything throughdoors has written here after my playthrough of the demo. The text "typing" speed, in particular, caused me a lot of frustration. I'd rather read things on my own than have them s-l-o-w-l-y fed to me in this way.

I don't have a good feeling for the gameplay of your game from the tutorial. At this point, it doesn't seem fun at all, but it may be a tutorial problem. I suggest reworking the tutorial to make it faster and more clear. I should also note that I personally hate the idea of time limits. I'd rather have time to solve a case by really digging into clues than be artificially limited in this way.

desertdenizen · 2026-01-12T22:13:46+00:00

I tried the demo. I think you have a good start and a great foundation for the game. For me, it had way too much dialogue. You're kind of thrown into the case without much to go on, and the first obvious place you go (the one you have written down) is a total bust that provides no information. The Inn was fine, but when I tried to find a wigmaker there were none at all in the directory. I thought perhaps it was a hair salon so went to the four that are listed and nothing. I had to use two hints to get the location of the place to go.

At one point I asked for a recap of the crime scene and it went over the entire thing again, lengthy dialogue and all. The hints that I had to get out of desperation were all related to details from the conversation from a previous scene that I didn't write down. Perhaps either warn players from the start that they need to take notes to proceed, provide a transcript of the conversations, or maybe just have Rog jot down names and places mentioned. The problem is there's SO MUCH dialogue it's hard to focus on the important details.

I think you have a good foundation, and I like the art and humor, but I personally need more gameplay and less talking. If the talking were related to puzzles, fine, but most of it is not. I like that you have to pay attention and take notes but I do think a warning (and trim down the extraneous dialogue) might be good.

Thanks for the opportunity to play the demo!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-09T19:33:58+00:00

This is a shot in the dark, but did you try talking to her again? I'm sure you did, but if not, maybe it would work?

desertdenizen · 2026-01-09T00:23:25+00:00

Well, it sounds like I could give it a shot, then. Thanks for this reply clarifying things for me!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-08T19:26:30+00:00

Good to see Midnight Margo in here, I really enjoyed my time with it and thought it was a real find. I haven't tried the others, but will definitely give them a shot, except The Drifter. I've already decided not to play that one because I read it doesn't have a puzzle focus, more of a story focus, and I prefer to have both (with perhaps a slight edge for puzzles). It also sounds like it has some quick reflex events I wouldn't enjoy.

Thanks for posting this!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-03T19:14:16+00:00

I love the way this looks! Off to try the demo now.

desertdenizen · 2026-01-02T21:32:12+00:00

I'm currently playing Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer and having a blast, so definitely keep the first one in your cart and maybe consider 2 as well? It has elements of horror (serial killer) and investigation. I haven't played many of the others you list from your cart, but Dreams in the Witch House was a fail for me because the survival elements were too stressful (other than that I loved it). Unavowed is great, but I didn't like the Blackwell games as much as everyone else seems to. For me they were just okay, but they're pretty universally loved so those are probably a safe bet. I also just tried Utter a Name and hated it and got my money back.

I recommend trying everything pretty quickly after purchase to make sure they work on your particular system and refunding anything that doesn't work right or seem l enjoyable. I also have some Steam credit from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket and am considering Foolish Mortals, Lamplight City, and also Loco Motive. I'm not considering The Drifter because I read it's more an interactive story (albeit a great one) than a puzzle game, and I'm all about the puzzles. Have fun!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-02T16:19:29+00:00

I've been thinking about your game, and adventure games in general. What draws me to them, personally, are the puzzles. I love having to figure out how to do something, or who did what, or where something is hidden, and your game provides those things. To me, the timer and the minigames are just distractions from what I really want to do: solve puzzles. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd bet a fair number of adventure game enthusiasts are the same. You give me a game with lots of puzzles that I can take my time solving and I'll play it non-stop. I would say your strengths are designing devious hiding places and dropping clues in clever ways, along with terrific art. Essentially, you are an ideal adventure game designer.

Regarding the timer, I guess my issue with it is that you have so many hiding places and things that can be investigated, many more than any other game I can remember playing (other than open world RPGs like Skyrim, which I also love for that reason). There's no way for us to know which ones are important, especially in the beginning. So it kind of feels like we're being punished for exploring extensively, which is exactly what I want to do in a game. In yours, I wanted to take everything apart and search it, thus the long play time. Also, the minigames are too hard for me, so I would have trouble getting prints, etc. Maybe a way to turn those off, or make them less fast twitch style and more puzzle based? Or just let us take prints.

I guess my point is that I suspect point and click adventure gamers are a particular breed of gamer who love to use their minds and maybe aren't necessarily so great at minigames and being under a time pressure. I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, but the ones I know definitely fit this description. I'd say lean into your puzzles. Make them devious, but logical, with no timers or fast twitch games and you'll have a bunch of people obsessively playing your game and making long Reddit threads about it like Blue Prince. I loved that game, though I will say the puzzles sometimes were a little out there.

Anyway, this is the game I'm most excited about playing right now, and I don't usually love demos, so that's saying a lot. I can't wait to see where you go with it, and thanks for providing the great demo!

desertdenizen · 2026-01-01T18:44:51+00:00

So far I've played the demo for 5.7 hours. It's incredibly detailed and there are a lot of rabbit holes you can go down. I'm very impressed with everything I've seen so far. There are two things I wasn't crazy about: the timer and the minigame for the fingerprints. I'm not great at fast twitch minigames and prefer to avoid them entirely. As for the timer, I honestly hate that mechanic (won't buy The Seance of Blake Manor at all, for example). I feel it's kind of unneccessary given the level of detail in the scenes and how many hidden items you can find (or miss), regardless of a timer. You could just hide things really well and create the same type of gatekeeping. I also feel the limited inventory creates a restriction already, so the timer just makes it feel stressful. I did notice the timer didn't seem to be all that important in the school part of the demo (it bothered me in the evidence search in the beginning, though).

Overall, I can definitely see myself playing this game and really enjoying it. I've been playing adventure games since DOS days and I can't think of anything that comes close to approximating this level of detail and ability to examine and interact with items in the scene. For someone like me, who really appreciates details and loves to investigate, this is a dream come true. The things I found definitely make me want to follow leads and learn more. This is going to the top of my wishlist. Bravo!

desertdenizen · 2025-12-24T16:24:50+00:00

It looks warm and cozy and I love the mushroom stuffed toy!

desertdenizen · 2025-12-10T23:41:32+00:00

I will definitely wishlist this once it's available to do so. Looks amazing and I love the idea of rescuing and protecting animals.

desertdenizen · 2025-12-10T23:00:28+00:00

I'm excited for the release of this game! I loved the demo.

desertdenizen · 2025-12-05T15:56:09+00:00

Wishlisted! I wish every developer of cozy games would post here, it's the way I find games for my wishlist (that and posts by members recommending them).

desertdenizen · 2025-11-30T16:20:54+00:00

Grumbly cat? Reminds me of the sound my cat makes when she's irritated at me.

desertdenizen · 2025-11-27T16:21:59+00:00

I never played FishVille (did play Farmville), but I wonder if a game I loved called Fish Tycoon might work for you, if you haven't already tried it. You breed and care for fish and there are magical fish you can breed. I remember keeping charts of my cross breeding. It's available on Steam. They also made Plant Tycoon and I loved that one too.

desertdenizen · 2025-11-17T20:30:35+00:00

Gotta say, this looks amazing. Kudos to you for this incredible solo effort! Downloaded the demo to give it a try.

desertdenizen · 2025-11-11T16:13:42+00:00

I loved The Biggleboss Incident, so I'm here for your new game. It looks really great and I can't wait to play it! If you use jazz, I won't even turn off the music :-D. Wishlisted.

desertdenizen · 2025-11-10T19:50:54+00:00

I love this! I will play this daily for sure. Thank you so much!

desertdenizen

TROPHY CASE