Guiding Star

Notes: 
1. You can disable text-to-speech in the Options.
2. If you need to, check the tutorials below to understand the controls.

Story🐱

When a magical child falls ill, the sun sets on the land and the wizard is called to find a cure.  In this blind-accessible game, our cat will lead us through the darkness of the night in search of ingredients for a healing elixir.

Guiding Star was made in one month for the Minigame a Month May 2024 jam, with the theme "Wizards".

Trailer

Controls🍄

Tutorial

Watch the tutorial to understand the game mechanics, as we had a couple problems with the in-game tutorial!

Note that the only fully functional default controls are Keyboard + Mouse.

Gameplay | Controls 🌸

How to play with Keyboard and Mouse (WASD+mouse) - these are the only default controls that work with no problems:

• Walk: WASD;
• Turn/Rotate camera (left and right): move the mouse left / right.
• Pick up mushroom: Right-Click (mouse).
• Heal: Right-mouse button - hold it down while petting Star;
• Fire Spell: Left-Click (mouse).
• Send / call back cat to find a mushroom or exit: C

How to play with Mouse-Only:

• Walk: Strafe (move the mouse forward or backward):
• Rotate camera: Move the mouse;
• Interact (pet cat, pick up mushroom): Right-Click (mouse);
• Fire Spell: Left-Click (mouse);
• Send cat to find a mushroom or exit (or to come back): Scroll Button (mouse). - [Not currently working; click C instead.]

Keyboard Navigation | Controls

You can use the following shortcut keys on your keyboard to navigate the menu:

• F11: Toggle fullscreen or exit fullscreen.
• Escape (Esc), Tab and Backspace: Pause.
• Escape: Go back and exit fullscreen.
• Enter: Select button;
• Spacebar: Select dropdown box or checkboxes.
• Arrow Keys: Move between options (up and down) and adjust the slider (left and right).
• PgUp and PgDown: Go to the top or bottom of a Menu page.

Accessibility 🧙

In this game, you'll follow the lead of your cat, your Guiding Star, through the darkness of the night. 

We tested this game with players who were blind or had motor impairments to try to ensure the following features:

• Accessible for the blind:
  • Text to Speech integrated in the menu, tutorial and gameplay (disable it in the Options);
  • Audio cues for all key events, such as finding an enemy or a mushroom;
  • Follow the cat's meows to find your way around the scenarios.
  • Press 1 and 2 to check your health and level goals with Text-to-Speech. [not currently working]
  • Integrated audiodescription in the Wizard's dialogue lines.
    
• Hearing:
  • A radar in the corner of the screen indicating the direction of key sounds;
• Mobility - Controls
  • Auto-aim available in the options;
  • Choose a control scheme to play: Keyboard and Mouse or Mouse-Only (not fully functional), which allows strafing to move. [in Mouse-Only, the "Send Star" middle mouse button isn't currently working]
  • Copy and Modify Control Schemes to customize them to your needs (don't forget to save them!). [Not fully working at the moment]

The Team 🌙

Project Lead: Patrícia Mendes, RafazCruz
Game Design: Patrícia Mendes, Cydeamon
Programming: Cydeamon, KoalaPanda, LordCatto
Art: RafazCruz (lead), Patrícia Mendes (book illustrations)
User Experience: Patrícia Mendes (lead) | Cydeamon
Writing: Patrícia Mendes
Music: Hamza Aydin
Sound Design: Hamza Aydin
Voice Actors: Ross Minor, Zleepy

Our pages 📚

RafazCruz
Artist (lead)
Itch. io: https://rafazcruz.itch.io/

Patrícia Mendes:
Creative co-director | Game Design | User Experience & Accessibility | Art (assistant)
Itch.io: https://patriciamendes.itch.io/
Portfolio: https://uxpatriciamendes.wixsite.com/patricia-mendes

Cydeamon:
Creative co-director | Game Design | Programming
Itch.io: https://cydeamon.itch.io/

KoalaPanda:
Programming
Itch.io: https://koalapanda54.itch.io/

LordCatto
Programming
Itch.io: https://daslittlepuma.itch.io/

Hamza:
Sound Design | Music
Itch.io: https://itch.io/profile/anthrophantasmus-music

Ross Minor
Voice Acting (Narrator)
Website: https://www.rossminor.com/

Zleepy
Voice Acting (Wizard)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zleepyzheep/

Jaogwal
QA Tester:
Itch.io: https://jaogwal.itch.io/

Thank you to our Playtesters:

Jeppe "Serth" Nymand
Lucille Inepta
Jonathan Nyman
Jaogwal

Known Bugs 🍂

After the Jam voting period ends, we will be fixing the following bugs and any others we find:

1. The alt controls of the control schemes are not currently working;
2. The cutscenes don't play the full animations;
3. Star gets stuck at a certain spot in the Level 2 clearing, but if you walk back and press C a few times, she'll get unstuck.
4. In Mouse-Only, the middle-mouse button isn't working to send Star to search.
5. The controls customization aren't fully working (they allow for new keyboard keys, but not for mouse keys).

Contact Guiding Star Team 🏡 ☀️

Did you find some bugs? Want to get in touch? Join our discord server: https://discord.gg/x2wTd59wzj