Inward compared to Playne

[hubertsn]

What are the differences between Inward and Playne?

[môrgondír]

Without having explored Inward to a fuller degree, it would be difficult to form a complete comparison between the two.

Both games are focused on helping the user to build a habit of meditation, or mindfulness.

I've been using Playne for a little over three years (since November 2019) - I've only just started to explore Inward (beyond early testing).

My initial feeling is that there are some similarities and some differences, with qualities of both that I enjoy.

Inward is currently free-to-play, so it's encouraged that you give Inward a try and experience it for yourself.

[Gypsy23]

I think the biggest difference is you're not suppose to lose your progress if you miss a day.

[Tapasvi]

Originally posted by Gypsy23:

I think the biggest difference is you're not suppose to lose your progress if you miss a day.

Funny, but kinda true.
Losing the streak felt great and relaxing after these damn cheevos (playing it for something like a month, in playtest).

[Nostalginaut]

I've only used Inward once as of right now, but they appear close to identical. PLAYNE appears to have some more polished visuals (lighting in Inward may be better?), and each has its own color style, but:

- Sounds are largely identical
- Music is incredibly similar, if not identical
- Opening text is almost completely identical to PLAYNE
- You're guided by a fox in PLAYNE, and a wolf(?) in Inward

I'll continue exploring Inward, but I'm wondering why it came out when PLAYNE was already here. Why not just bring Kno to Steam? That was more unique.

[HareMoose]

Originally posted by Nostalginaut:

I've only used Inward once as of right now, but they appear close to identical. PLAYNE appears to have some more polished visuals (lighting in Inward may be better?), and each has its own color style, but:

- Sounds are largely identical
- Music is incredibly similar, if not identical
- Opening text is almost completely identical to PLAYNE
- You're guided by a fox in PLAYNE, and a wolf(?) in Inward

I'll continue exploring Inward, but I'm wondering why it came out when PLAYNE was already here. Why not just bring Kno to Steam? That was more unique.

Yes, people are being too nice and dishonest. I think the only reason a lot of people stuck with the old game is the initiative to help plant real trees.

If I turn the camera in Inward, I see the backside of the words, like an old VR game. The wolf and the fox named Wolf feel like the same guy. I'm sorry if this is mean, but it seems like the dev may have hit their ability cap and needs to hire a coder or someone who can freshen up the graphics and make the interface less clunky. There are now some pretty good mindfulness apps out there that have custom critters, offer breathing/meditation exercises, nature sounds, etc. Building a world is nice, but there are also better games for that, too.

[Krish]

To answer your question huberstn, yes, Inward is different from Playne:

- Cross-platform and will be released on mobile.
- Design your Sanctuary: With Inward, you have a huge range of elements like flowers, grass, mountains, wildlife etc that you can unlock and choose to create a unique sanctuary. This comes with over 500,000 possible combinations (Playne's sandbox mode was 15)
- Discover and grow unique tree species (over 75,000 species so far, and will grow with time)
- Dynamic guided audio meditations that adapt to your session length.
- More meditation than Playne
- More journaling exercises than Playne
- Minor stuff: Habit journey map


Playne, on the other hand, is more immersive than Inward since it's realistic (will need a decent GPU), and Sandbox/Evolve mode is first-person. (it's VR as well)

Hope this answers your questions.

I'm sorry if this is mean, but it seems like the dev may have hit their ability cap and needs to hire a coder or someone who can freshen up the graphics and make the interface less clunky.

Not at all, Crow Crash, no need to apologise. Although inward has most of the gameplay features, its only just been released and is deep in Early Access. Inward is aimed at mobile, so graphics/style is less realistic than Playne. I rely on feedback from players to figure out how to update/evolve the game, this process takes time. This has been the natural cycle of game development for me.

When I first released Playne into early access, it only had about 30% of the game as you see it now. (You couldn't even move the camera O.O) - it does take time to grow a game :) So big hugs to all of you that got Playne in the early days, and stuck with it!

[Caszava]

I personally find the guided meditation more enjoyable than in Playne.

[Eirian]

I loved Playne, and I'd like to love Inward, but I don't understand why it has to be yet another thing in life that requires an online account.

[𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻]

anda mal el juego

[OgriN]

dwadaw

[Capt. Warlock]

Started meditating with this with a housemate. Today is the third day in a row. We love it.
We use the itch.io version, not the steam one.

Just a feedback point/potential bug report:

I just noticed that the streak is not kept and it hasn´t registered our sit from yesterday, oddly enough. It says now we meditate only 2 times and have a one day streak.

We didn't close the app immediatly after meditating; we 'let the day pass'/time progress, so I'm not sure what is going on here.

Maybe good to check and if possible, allow the timer/streak to register after pressing 'end meditation', if that hasn't been done yet.