Lots of potential

[PixieCatGames1919]

I really like this small desktop game but I feel like it definitely needs some more QOL improvements. I love the art, the desktop concept but as others have stated in this forum, there are some things that just aren't quite right. Maybe they are in the update pipe idk...

Here are my thoughts on first play:
1. What's with the black sky? Is it always night time? I can't get it to be transparent or even blue and I don't know why.
2. This isn't a true idler... it's more of a clicker. I accidentally left this up and went to do some things IRL and came back to 0 earned funds, poop everywhere with a sick bunny and no way to treat it because i just started the game and the medicine is 1k. I love the interactions with the game for sure but there should definitely be an idle mode for when life calls and you leave your desktop up and the game still running.
3. It's a cute distraction but it shouldn't be an ENTIRE distraction. I feel like to earn money in this game it's INCREDIBLY TAXING you have to click your animals to get them to give you 1 cent a click, or watch when they are happy and dropping money and if you don't, the money goes away. I feel like the money earned is insanely small and as mentioned above I just started, accidentally left the game running for a few hours, came back to no money earned and a sick animal and now i have NO way to even treat that animal because the medicine is so expensive... (heh kind of reminds me of some real life health care)
4. I'm working off two screens currently and when this game is running on my 2nd screen selecting anything in the menu causes it to crash. It will only run fluidly on my primary screen which is a problem if I need to use my primary screen for actually working on other things. Yes I can push alt + ~ to hide the game but that defeats the purpose right?

For what this is, it's extremely cute and has a lot of potential, new animals to raise, new decorations etc. as the time comes but for right now there's just something missing from MY expectations and I can't exactly put my finger on it other than the issues I've listed above. I do hope this game continues to develop and grow because I really want to continue to have these little animals as my desktop companions. I'm hesitant to write this as a review because I know it's only been out for a few days so a lot or a little could change in a few weeks/month's time so I've decided to put my thoughts here in the discussion.

So far, how do you feel about your experience playing this game?

[Fhraeghia]

1. You must be experiencing a bug. No problems with the color of the sky on mine. It certainly won't be blue, but it should be transparent. I believe there's a fix posted about it somewhere in forum.

2. I agree with you to some point, but the game is indeed posted as a clicker and an idler at the same time. Won't take you more than 30 minutes to earn enough money to buy the basic facilities for idling--it's a clicker for the first 30-60 minutes, then a true idler after that (assuming you have no goals for a full pasture of rainbow pandas like I do). We might want to say that the "early game" requires great decision-making and commitment to quickly transition to a comfortable idling, so it's an issue about progression and not exactly it being not a "true idler". So, when life DOES not call you for the first 30-60 minutes, and you have the basic sense to understand how to profit, then the game is truly rewarding. I go idle for an hour and I have millions with a poop-free screen and happy pets--a rewarding idler.

3. Again, it's a matter of progression. The only "taxing" part of the game is cleaning enough poops for poop-unlocked animals. A very weird choice to be honest, but even that is not that grindy. I unlocked everything in a matter of a few hours. Just aim for the easily unlockable animals (wait for adulthood and earnings), then buy them as soon as they're ready. Milk them up, then buy the next set of animals, and just in a few hours (like 2-3 hours) you'll have your first panda. Honestly saying this hoping not to be offensive, but this might be a "you" issue. You might not be choosing the correct animals to profit with at certain stages. This is not a fault by itself, because you certainly should be free to play the way you want, but if one takes that path, then one can't complain if they do not progress ideally.

4. I have multiple screens too but that does not happen on mine... You might wanna send a bug report about it.

Again, I don't mean to be a jerk with my comment. I'm enjoying the game a lot, and probably made the right choices to enjoy both the "Clicker" and the "Idler" part of the game. I did experience what you experienced about the sick pets, but since the treatment is indeed too expensive early in the game, then all you had to do was sell them. The attachment is a different matter of course. I kept the first rabbit I named since I did name it and got attached to it accidentally.

My complaint about this game is that it's actually too bare at the moment. It's cute, it's fun, it's better than Ropuka's. I like it better than Rusty's. But the game has nothing to else to offer late into the game except for aiming for Rainbows. Decorations are too simple. Fences can't even be placed behind decorations that are already placed (sad). There's also no pet sounds, no other soundtracks. The facilities also has a progression issue. The feeder's upgrade does not make much sense since it's simply upgrading the quality of the food, and it's useless since the pets eat them immediately at 95% fullness and below. In a technical standpoint, this game is poorly balanced, not because it's too hard, but because the progression path does not make much sense. But, then again, the game is made to be cute and relaxing, without much attention to rapid progression or perfect balance. It's a 4.5/5 for the cuteboi gamer that I am (damn), but a 1.5/5 if I manifest criticality in terms of numbers in the gameplay itself.

[PixieCatGames1919]

Thanks so much for your thoughts and feedback.
Indeed, I do agree some of it may be a "me" issue and not a game issue. I'm not totally throwing this game in the never to be played pile because I think it really does have potentia. It seems like the devs are interested in feedback from all players and are diligently working on known issues.
I'm just sharing my early on experiences which could cause some to not come back to the game if they experienced some of the same scenarios as I did. I do see there's a screen crash known issue now they they are working on for dual screens which is what I was experiencing as well as the black sky issue. I do agree with your critiques about the bareness of the game. This is where it has potential to grow for me. I hope it does because I really love the concept of the game!

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my response with your thoughts!

[Fhraeghia]

Always welcome Pixie! Sorry if I sounded too harsh, I was really trying to find the best way to say things but I suck. Promise I don't mean anything bad at all.

Totally agree with you tho, this game really has potential. Hope the dev makes improvements and not simply bug fixes. As proven with your early game experience, the game really has that pitfall right now of all your pets turning sick with just a few hours of idling---which kinda contradicts the part where the game is supposed to be a companion -_-"

Weeell, that's too much words from meee. Wishing you luck on this game and on the others!!