Sorry for the late reply, but I was traveling! Have you managed to get the Steam key and/or did you write to the itch.io support? I think there should be a "request key" button somewhere on the purchase page (do you have the email from the purchase with a link to click on to get to the purchase page, by any chance?). From my side, there are still enough Steam keys available and ready to go.
I checked the purchase page but did not see any option. It's okay though. This isn't really my type of game. I tried it but did not enjoy it. Good luck with it!
Hello, I love the game, but when I go to edit where the screenshots and profile info can be saved, it won't let me type a colon (:) so I can't type out the path properly. It also won't let me simply copy/paste a path in the box. There's no option to reset the default settings either so I can't fix it at all.
Would editing the settings file directly resolve the issue? It's stored at "C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\BrushwoodBuddies\settings.xml" on Windows (are you on Windows?). Make sure to close the game beforehand and then restart it after editing the settings file. To reset the settings, you could make a backup of the settings file and then delete it. A default one should then be regenerated at startup.
Cute and well done puzzle game in the vein of Doodle God style crafting puzzles. You have a variety of locations and need to craft items with what you are given, creating an ever more complex chain of crafting puzzles, which is simultaneously one of the biggest strengths and weaknesses. The game has over 100 puzzle recipes that are genuinely interesting to figure out with the restrictions that the game imposes on you. Due to the nature of the recipes becoming increasingly more complex and relying on older recipes, you will retread them a lot, which takes a bit away from the excitement. The UI also could use some more obvious clues, but overall, its a cute little puzzle game thats worth checking out if you enjoyed games in the crafting puzzle subgenre. 3,5/5
I'm struggling to learn because the tutorial doesn't tell you that rocks randomly turn into flint or grindstones; the mention of random generation instead of only having to destroy stuff would have completely cleared up my massive confusion. And if they're not random then I misunderstood something and I feel like something was not taught correctly. If it's character-dependent on the two starting protagonists, then I have no idea of how to consistently move one particular character to one particular spot.
It also doesn't tell you that grindstones don't get consumed in the crafting process (I know they don't in real life but I thought in the context of this being a computer game, all 2:1 combinations become 1), so I got really confused about whether I made something, because the sharpened flint and flint were imperceptibly different on my monitor against the dark background behind the micro islands, so I thought that nothing had changed. There are so many easy ways to fix this UI problem, which could all possibly even be combined but none of them were taken:
An option to show the names of items when moused over
Some kind of flash effect over the spot of the island that creates a new item
A light-colored bubble background behind hovering items
Additionally, the dark buttons of knives, machetes, etc. against an already-dark background make them very hard to see, so I didn't even see that there is an equation at the bottom of the crafting chart. It would be way more helpful if their background buttons could be light-colored instead.
Lastly, the options screen in the main menu was a bit weird and sort of claustrophobic to pan through, since it only shows so much of the settings on the screen at one time; it would be nice to see a far taller column on either the left or right sides of the game screen.
I'm sorry, but I can't currently recommend the title to others because of these UI problems, but I will instantly change my mind once these are addressed. The graphics and audio work rock, at minimum.
Thank you very much for the honest and very detailed feedback, I wished I had you as a tester during development!
The tutorial and the communication is indeed not good and a case of style over substance, a mistake I learned a lot from as a game developer. The generation of items is shown below the craft respectively destroy button and is independent of the characters; their movement doesn't matter and is decoration only.
I hope I'll find the time to make a proper update of Brushwood Buddies in the future and bring it to a newer state (I used quite some old tech developing it!), but the low sale figures made it kind of hard to justify working on it as I do game development and illustration as a living.
Nonetheless and independent of an update, the lessons and points you and others brought up will definitely have an influence on future efforts of mine (especially UI design)! ♥
Ah, makes sense, and thanks for the explanation of where to find item generation; I should have noticed that. Anyways, it is possible that my monitor colors may be off.
Frankly, if you're ever up for a rewrite, I think this work of art is perfect for the Nintendo Switch and phones (where the meat of the money could come in through ads if the game itself was free, possibly). Too bad I had never heard of it apart from the bundle just now!
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I bought this bundle 4 years ago, but I don't see any Steam Key. Where would I find this exactly? In the download folder?
Sorry for the late reply, but I was traveling! Have you managed to get the Steam key and/or did you write to the itch.io support? I think there should be a "request key" button somewhere on the purchase page (do you have the email from the purchase with a link to click on to get to the purchase page, by any chance?). From my side, there are still enough Steam keys available and ready to go.
I checked the purchase page but did not see any option. It's okay though. This isn't really my type of game. I tried it but did not enjoy it. Good luck with it!
Thanks! :)
Hello, I love the game, but when I go to edit where the screenshots and profile info can be saved, it won't let me type a colon (:) so I can't type out the path properly. It also won't let me simply copy/paste a path in the box. There's no option to reset the default settings either so I can't fix it at all.
Oh no! Sorry for the problems/inconvenience! :(
Would editing the settings file directly resolve the issue? It's stored at "C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\BrushwoodBuddies\settings.xml" on Windows (are you on Windows?). Make sure to close the game beforehand and then restart it after editing the settings file. To reset the settings, you could make a backup of the settings file and then delete it. A default one should then be regenerated at startup.
Thanks, that did the trick!
Cute and well done puzzle game in the vein of Doodle God style crafting puzzles. You have a variety of locations and need to craft items with what you are given, creating an ever more complex chain of crafting puzzles, which is simultaneously one of the biggest strengths and weaknesses. The game has over 100 puzzle recipes that are genuinely interesting to figure out with the restrictions that the game imposes on you. Due to the nature of the recipes becoming increasingly more complex and relying on older recipes, you will retread them a lot, which takes a bit away from the excitement. The UI also could use some more obvious clues, but overall, its a cute little puzzle game thats worth checking out if you enjoyed games in the crafting puzzle subgenre. 3,5/5
More Racial Justice Bundle impressions:
https://itch.io/c/915453/quick-impressions-bundle-for-racial-justice
I'm struggling to learn because the tutorial doesn't tell you that rocks randomly turn into flint or grindstones; the mention of random generation instead of only having to destroy stuff would have completely cleared up my massive confusion. And if they're not random then I misunderstood something and I feel like something was not taught correctly. If it's character-dependent on the two starting protagonists, then I have no idea of how to consistently move one particular character to one particular spot.
It also doesn't tell you that grindstones don't get consumed in the crafting process (I know they don't in real life but I thought in the context of this being a computer game, all 2:1 combinations become 1), so I got really confused about whether I made something, because the sharpened flint and flint were imperceptibly different on my monitor against the dark background behind the micro islands, so I thought that nothing had changed. There are so many easy ways to fix this UI problem, which could all possibly even be combined but none of them were taken:
Additionally, the dark buttons of knives, machetes, etc. against an already-dark background make them very hard to see, so I didn't even see that there is an equation at the bottom of the crafting chart. It would be way more helpful if their background buttons could be light-colored instead.
Lastly, the options screen in the main menu was a bit weird and sort of claustrophobic to pan through, since it only shows so much of the settings on the screen at one time; it would be nice to see a far taller column on either the left or right sides of the game screen.
I'm sorry, but I can't currently recommend the title to others because of these UI problems, but I will instantly change my mind once these are addressed. The graphics and audio work rock, at minimum.
Thank you very much for the honest and very detailed feedback, I wished I had you as a tester during development!
The tutorial and the communication is indeed not good and a case of style over substance, a mistake I learned a lot from as a game developer. The generation of items is shown below the craft respectively destroy button and is independent of the characters; their movement doesn't matter and is decoration only.
I hope I'll find the time to make a proper update of Brushwood Buddies in the future and bring it to a newer state (I used quite some old tech developing it!), but the low sale figures made it kind of hard to justify working on it as I do game development and illustration as a living.
Nonetheless and independent of an update, the lessons and points you and others brought up will definitely have an influence on future efforts of mine (especially UI design)! ♥
Ah, makes sense, and thanks for the explanation of where to find item generation; I should have noticed that. Anyways, it is possible that my monitor colors may be off.
Frankly, if you're ever up for a rewrite, I think this work of art is perfect for the Nintendo Switch and phones (where the meat of the money could come in through ads if the game itself was free, possibly). Too bad I had never heard of it apart from the bundle just now!