Passing By

Thank you for your comment! Glad you enjoyed it :)

Congrats on the new update :)

Thank you :)

EllisRK104 years ago( 2)

i was only on the second island (the one after your home) and managed to push the ships wheel into the ledge just after where you get it from i cant get it back luckily i remembered not to save after it so i can just go back but please fix this in the futre incase it happens again or it happens to somebody else.(i couldnt grab it back and it was not a cave so i couldnt go in)

Thanks for your report, we'll look into it! I hope you're still enjoying the rest of the game :)

How do I ride the zipline tho?

mjlosch4 years ago( 1)

Hi MrHiTech,
you have to jump on the handle like it would be a ledge. Then Curly will hold on the handle :) And can be a bit hard at first, but try it a bit and you will succeed :)

Thanks!

Bug report by the way:

When you first go on the shattered palace elevator, if you jump off before the animation of the swan's wing lifting plays, the controls stop working. I had to reload the game. I have been attempting to reproduce this bug to test whether cheats work to get out of it, but I have been unsuccessful in reproducing it. I must have walked off at just the wrong moment.

MrHiTech4 years ago (2 edits)

I have also found it very easy to accidentally pull the anchor lever when I meant to climb up the ladder, releasing me from the island I'm on, even if I didn't want to leave. I can see two possible solutions for this:

1. Make it that a window pops up (are you sure you want to leave this island?) and you have to click "yes" to continue. However, this would be clunky and likely annoying for people who do not have this issue.

2. Make it that if you pull the anchor lever again after you leave (probably with a time limit of like 5-10 seconds), the ship immediately anchors back down. I prefer this one because it doesn't inconvenience players who do not have this issue.

Thanks a lot for the report! It certainly required precise timing, but I managed to reproduce the issue and implement a fix for it. :)

On the cannibal island, how do you get past the room with the moving statue? I tried stabbing it by pushing the other statue into it, and also climbing onto his spear, but neither worked.

Nevermind i was just zoomed out too much. If you zoom in you can see the ledge.

Glad you figured it out! :)
About your request for a controls layout for left-handed players: Using the arrow keys would be possible but I'm not sure which keys to choose for interaction (E) and jumping (Space) because you should still be able to reach them with the same hand so you can use the mouse with the other. Do you think you would be able to play using I, J, K, L for movement with U for interaction and Space for jumping?

The other big thing about the arrow keys is that up directly above down, not above and slightly to the right. The mouse isn't really used for anything other than dragging items though (and for that I usually take my hands off the keyboard), so I'd say leave it at E. The other option (which is appearing better and better the more I think about it) would be to entirely replace E with left-click. This would:

1. Reduce the confusion of dragging objects to diamonds with left click, while interaction is done with E. Instead, all interaction would be done with left-click, creating more internal consistency within the controls

2. Allow the player to select diamonds they are in range of without having to move toward them just to avoid instead selecting another diamond that is closer.

I probably botched that phrasing so here is an example, in which "c" is Curly and "d" and "D" are diamonds:

d c D

In this example, even though both diamonds are in range, Curly must move towards d in order not to accidentally select D. However, if selection were based on clicking, The player could simply click on d without having to move. The player would still be able to select D by clicking it.

3. Allow righties to have their left hand on wasd and their right hand on their mouse (or trackpad), while lefties could have their left hand on their mouse (or trackpad) and their right hand on the arrow keys.

The one problem I can think of with this approach is that space would be relatively unreachable. A possible solution would be to also remove space and have jumping be done by up arrow. Another solution would be to have jumping also be rebound to left-click, but this would throw a lot of people off (myself included).

For me at least though (I just tried this hand layout), my right hand on the arrow keys, my left thumb on space, and my left middle finger on E was pretty comfortable. In short, I honestly think that just allowing arrow keys to be used to move and not rebinding anything else would be fine, easy and simple to use. Take the rest of this comment with a grain of salt.

Li'l bug report

Hello again! I've found a few bugs I think you'd like to know about. One is a bug where the game will sometimes overlay text onto the bottom of the screen: it isn't too large, so it's still playable, but it does ruin the immersion a little bit :D

Also, if a box like the one below is put on a slope and tips over, it becomes unpushable and can block Curly from using things like water pumps.

Curly cannot reach the center of the box, so cannot push it or use the pump as it is blocked by the box.

Another bug is that you can get yourself into this situation on Isle of the broken hearts:

Which leaves you nothing else to do but wait for death :) A solution would be to add a way out, like a ladder down. Increasing the closing speed would not work as an on-off flick of the lever can give you enough time to run under it.

The most serious bug I found was one to do with the amazing new update :). If you sleep while airborne, and then die, you are greeted with this permanent screen:

And need to restart the game. I restarted the game and it worked again though, but it might be worth looking into!

flashofhorizons4 years ago

Hey there, thank you so much for this extensive bug report! :)

The text on the screen is just some debug information for us developers and it can be toggled on and off by pressing the backspace key. However, if you didn't press that key and it became visible anyway, then there's definitely something wrong!

We'll have to discuss how we can solve the issues you found on the Isle of (Broken) Hearts. Thanks for pointing them out to us! And for the loading screen freeze: Do you perhaps still have that save game or did you overwrite it in the meantime?

No, it was still there. It happens to me every time I sleep when airborne for the first time, after that it works OK!

If the bug still persists in your save game, it would be super helpful if you could reach out to me at marius.muehleck.itch[at]gmx.de so I can help you locate the file and take a look at it :)

Excited to see this update! I have a bug report though. I'm unable to complete the broken heart island because Curly can't talk to the mom in the windmill. So I just had her get back in the balloon but I don't know if that will affect the ending of the game.

Oh no, that's a new one! The dialog with the mom should start automatically after you enter the windmill through the door in the cave. So she just stood there and nothing happened?

Thank you for reaching out to us again! I hope, you're still enjoying the rest of the update :)

Yes I just stood there but wasn't able to talk to her. I finally finished the game. A great ending!

flashofhorizons4 years ago( 2)

Another piece of feedback: it would be useful if we could somehow see how far Curly's stats are decreasing on the character itself. For example, a thought bubble of an apple could be shown if curly's hunger is halfway. This would be useful because we wouldn't need to look at the stats constantly, but are gently reminded. This would allow us to focus more on exploration and add a bit of polish. No need to implement this though, just putting it out there!

Thanks for your feedback! :) It's certainly interesting to read because we are constantly torn between trying to make the user interface as unobtrusive as possible and having to cram so much important information in there.

Yeah, I can imagine that it is hard to find a balance... If you ask me the survival aspect of the game should encourage exploration and add depth to the game instead of becoming a nag. I had more fun looking for carrots on Phare island, and finding secrets on the way, than I had interrupting a puzzle because I didn't have enough food.

spacecandle4 years ago( 1)

The game looks adorable and I like the concept. However, I can't seem to fill my water bottle. Anyone else who's experienced this and knows why? I'm looking forward to the rest of the islands

Hey there, we appreciate your feedback! :)

There is currently a problem with dragging and dropping items onto world hotspots (the white blinking rectangles) when the game camera is zoomed out too much. The next update will contain a fix for this. For now, you'll have to zoom in with the mouse wheel to fill the bottle (or to combine any other items with hotspots). Sorry for the inconvenience!

ffopger4 years ago( 2)

A really charming game! Very impressive. But I am just not sure if that my finding ability is weak. I just couldn't find the lighttower's key on the Phare island...

flashofhorizons4 years ago (1 edit) ( 2)

Did you check the bench next to the lighthouse, or was it the sign on the door? :D There's a clue somewhere there. If you can't drag it into the door try zooming in!

ffopger4 years ago( 1)

Thanks! I will try it

katalac3574 years ago( 3)

Hello! I stumbled across your game, and I must say it is very charming. I love it so far. I just want to provide a little feedback on what I think could be improved upon to make it even better. SAVES is definitely to me the most important thing the game is lacking--I don't want to have to start over every time I play. The other major drawback is that the hunger and thirst meters go down so quickly and the food available doesn't give you enough energy to even fill the bar back up a lot of the time so I run right back out. I know this is part of the game's dynamic, but you might consider adjusting it somewhat so that it isn't constantly running out, because this takes away from the rest of the game and makes it less enjoyable. Other than that, I LOVE IT! Cute graphics, cute story, and fun to explore.

Ilona Treml4 years ago( 2)

Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated!

We are currently working on implementing a save system, and things are looking good so far. I'm not going to promise anything, but there might be a major update coming at the end of next week. ;) It'll also include some adjustments concerning the survival mechanics and a little "extra" treat in case players are struggling to survive. Leave us a follow and you'll be noticed as soon as the update drops.

Aside from that, many thanks for your kind words, it means the world to us and keeps us going!

flashofhorizons4 years ago( 2)

Major update?!?! We're excited :D

Amazing game :) Flying around in an airship, exploring islands: feels amazing!!! I wish there was a level save though, as I think it is unjust for the game to be forced to be played in one sitting :) It took me 40 minutes to completely explore one island, so exploring all 8 would take about 5h 20 :D

I know it may seem like much effort for nothing, but it would make the experience much better! If you feel that saving is too much of a bother, maybe we could at least get a cheat command to teleport to an island, and one to complete objectives. Or a save code to save inventories. Nevertheless, this is a great game, something really special! Please add saves so it can be enjoyed even more :D

Thank you so much for your kind words! We're glad the game is enjoyable. :)

I'm happy to report we're currently working on a major update for the game that will include saves among other polishes and improvements. We don't have an ETA for it yet, but you could follow the project so you will be notified :)

Will definitely do :D

Burgerlover<34 years ago (1 edit)

I died from dehydration while trying to fill my waterbottle, i wasn´t able to. Am i bad? i don´t understand how to fill it.

I dragged the empty bottle from the inventory and onto the spring but nothing happened...

Hello, I am sorry to hear that. No, you are definitely not bad! :D The hotspot-area is just small, when you are zoomed out, so it is difficult to hit the hotspot-area. The hotspot is the blinking square. Try to zoom it a bit and it should work :)

Ololbu4 years ago( 3)

This game looks so pretty. Thanks for it.

A Linux support planning? What about custom languages?

Ilona Treml4 years ago (1 edit) ( 1)

Thank you for the feedback!

We haven't planned any Linux or multi-language support so far, but with more and more people asking for it we migth take it into consideration for future updates. Check our DevLog, we'll use it to keep everyone updated about these issues. ;)

karlson234 years ago( 1)

gosh dangit this game is hard how the hell do i land

You'll have to get in range of the landing spot (the furthest left position) of an island, and when the anchor symbol pops up, you'll have to lower the anchor by using the lever in the bottom of the balloon ship (the one you also used to raise the anchor). I hope this helps a bit! :)

dunkelheyt4 years ago( 3)

Hello!

I was wondering if you are interested in getting Passing By translated into Latin America's Spanish, if so, please, hit me up! :)

chickadee1234 years ago( 2)

Can I possibly have a hint about where to find the person to deliver the letter to? I've explored 7 islands (excluding home), but still haven't been able to complete the quest.

Marius Mühleck4 years ago (1 edit) ( 1)

Wow, congrats, having explored all 8 islands means you've basically made it through the game! How many souvenirs did you find?

Without spoiling too much, there is a short outro sequence that somewhat resolves things. It triggers after you've visited (or flown past) all islands during a single journey. I suppose this is a bit difficult to achieve right now because the game doesn't save your progress yet. Good news is, we're working hard on implementing save games and have already made good progress on it!

I think I found 4 or 5 souvenirs. I will try and get to the point where the outro sequence shows up. Thanks for the tip!

gek1n4 years ago( 2)

Очень яркая игра, понравилась с первых минут. Проблема для меня лишь в том, что много диалогов со сложными словами :(

Надо добавить перевод на русский и будет круто

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A very bright game, I liked it from the first minutes. The only problem for me is that there are a lot of dialogues with complex words :(

You need to add a translation into Russian and it will be cool

You made a Let's Play? Wow, we feel honored! Thank you very much! :) Unfortunately we don't have anybody in the team who speaks Russian, so it's a little difficult to translate right now. But we are happy that you still have fun with the game! :)
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Ты сделал "Давай сыграем"? Вау, это честь для нас! Большое спасибо! :) К сожалению, в нашей команде нет никого, кто бы говорил по-русски, поэтому перевод сейчас немного сложноват. Но мы рады, что вы все еще получаете удовольствие от игры! :)

gek1n4 years ago

maybe, you can translate it with google?)

Hello gek1n,

sorry for the late answer, as you can see from the comments here, we are currently working on a new version with save system :)

A translation with google, we had of course also in mind. But as it currently looks, we even found someone to translate it. I'll keep you up to date about it :)

gek1n4 years ago

Excellent. Waiting for updates

mjlosch3 years ago

Hello gek1n,

it really took a while, but we can finally announce that Passing By has a russian localization! :)
We'd love for you to give the game another try now! Fell free to share your thoughts about the localization!

Kind regards,

Jan

LelulaGames4 years ago (1 edit) ( 2)

Landing the ship is a bit difficult, but once I got it I was thrilled! Missed the first island though. Then I fell off the second island because of course I did.
I'm shocked this is free. It's charming in design, and I love the idea of exploring floating islands. I'll be trying this again.
(Playing on the itch.io game launcher. Works great.)

mjlosch4 years ago( 1)

Hello, I really like your comment, thanks for your compliments and for playing the game! :) We have released the game for free so that as many people as possible can try and play it. If you think the game is worth the money, you may of course use the donation function. Either way, we are happy that you like the game! :)

daromato4 years ago( 2)

I love this game, but I would love to have a button/key you can click on to drop the anchor instantly as I sometimes get stuck on the ship and miss the opportunity to land on an island.

Hey, we are happy to hear, that you like our game! :) We see that it is a bit inconvenient to walk the way down to the anchor to land. Our idea is, that the player has to do a bit and to walk on the balloonshop. So we want it to be somewhat difficult. Our source of inspiration for this aspect was the game "Far: Lone Sails" (really, really great game!). If you fly over an island, you can fly to the island again in another game run.

chickadee1234 years ago( 2)

I really enjoyed this game but the windows version doesn't save the game when I quit. I found this to be quite a frustrating issue because I'm unable to get back to where I was after quite some time spent in the game. Otherwise, super cute graphics and a fun story!

I found a bug on the broken heart island. When moving the second large box in the hidden cave, if it's moved too close to the fixed boxes, there's no way to get past it by pushing it.

mjlosch4 years ago( 2)

Hello, thank you for your kind words and feedback! :)
Right now, there is no Save Game Feature in the Game, but we are already working on it! :D

Considering the bug: You mean, when it is pushes against the fixed boxes then you can't move it from the right side, right? And in the worst case, you can't even jump on the big box from this point?

chickadee1234 years ago

Yes to both of those. I got stuck and had to restart my journey.

mjlosch4 years ago (1 edit) ( 1)

okay, thanks for the bugreport! I already fixed it with giving more space above. It will be in the next updated version of the game. :) I hope, you enjoy the other islands! :)

Great! Loving the game so far!

noobboi524 years ago( 3)

This game....How do I explain it? It's beautiful, creative, and overall one of the best games. Thank you for this

Thank you! It's very encouraging to hear that! :)

vamoosi4 years ago( 2)

this is so charming, but i can't even get past the lighthouse island because my character keeps ending up walking under the water and then i can't swim back to the surface, so i drown!