Demo Impressions Part 18

Featuring: Bigger Than Me, Birds Organized Neatly, The August Before, Tiny Bookshop, and Todomiro

Checking out even more demos. Yep, I have more! So many more. Any games that still have demos at time of publishing will have a (*).

Bigger Than Me*

This one actually wasn’t participating in the recent Next Fest, but I did see someone recommending it two years ago. You play as Max and the game starts in a dark room, with only the only light coming from the window, as he’s on the phone with his mom. It turns out that he needs a job very soon as rent is due in a week. However, as his mom mentions his future, we see a weird blob shadow come into view and he hangs up. We see why when he turns on the light as we see that he’s way bigger than he should be. He can barely move, but since his roommate, Mica, is home he decides to make noise loud enough to get her to investigate. And thus, we have out first puzzle as we figure out how to move the 8 Ball to hit a vase. It doesn’t go exactly as planned, but he does shrink back down to his original size. Perhaps calming down helps him shrink down?

The next day, he’s back to normal and what happened the previous night is explained away as a nightmare due to expired burgers and the stress. Though, I don’t think Max really believes it. Anyway, he goes out to do a job test for being a driver who delivers whatever the customer ordered. We get a delivery minigame where you have to pedal the bike, pay attention to the directions from your phone’s map app, and input the right directions. You do need to go fast to get a good score and it does get slightly harder with each delivery. However, one customer totally tanks it for him by complaining about things Max had no control over. Strangely enough, Max gets big again despite not hearing the word “future” and we get another minigame where we help him calm down, as well as another puzzle to get a pigeon out of his calm bubble. The demo ends as Max shrinks just in time for Maya to come along and invite him to have a movie night with her and Mica.

So far, I liked Bigger Than Me. I like the art style, animation, and the story seems interesting so far. I’m a bit confused why Max got big the second time despite not hearing “future”, but maybe it’s not so much hearing the word, but feeling a ton of stress? Especially since Max shrinks back down when he calms down.

Birds Organized Neatly

Out Now

Honestly, there isn’t a lot to say about this one. This is basically a puzzle game where you get a box with a set number of tiles you need to fill up and birds in various sizes making various shapes to fit them into. It starts out pretty easy, but it does quickly ramp up the difficulty. We also have some cute art for all the birds! Basically, if you’ve played and enjoyed Cats Organized Neatly and/or Dogs Organized Neatly and want more puzzles with different animals starring in it, this would be for you.

The only thing missing from the demo was getting a little snippet whenever you get a new bird, but it could just not be implemented yet.

The August Before

This one was pretty decent. The August Before is one of those cleaning/organizing games with a side of packing up. There is a list for you to look at for a list of things you need to do. Of course, cleaning is on the list and you do even have a clean meter. Though, it does seem like you don’t have to fully clean the room. Other than that, you also have a packing list and you’ll find these items as you’re cleaning up. There’’s even some puzzles here, like finding the lock combination for a locked box you have. Gameplay here is basically just picking up the various trash, papers, and items, and put them in the right place. Books go on the bookshelf, trash go in the trashcan, thread in the threadbox, etc. Only personal items are either put in a box, in the suitcase, or on the corkboard (which looks like it might lead to another level as there’s a post-it note saying that the level isn’t available in the demo). The various papers and post-it notes also has some writing on it, putting in some background story it seems, and you can even find cassettes to put on some music (though I personally just put on a podcast). Once everything is checked off, you can then end the level by closing your suitcase.

However, I did have an important item disappear after I placed it on the table. I’m pretty sure it went through the table and behind the boxes that are under it. I did also think the hitboxes were a bit iffy and it was a bit weird having the “zoom out” also double as a way to get it closer to the hitbox until I got used to it.

Tiny Bookshop*

Another game I saw in a showcase a year ago, wished it’ll get a demo, and got a demo this year! This time, it’s a game about you selling books.

In Tiny Bookshop, it turns out this is about a character that one day packed their stuff up and left to live by the sea. It also seems your character dreamed of selling used books and that’s just what this game is all about! Your bookstore isn’t a building, but a trailer attached to your car, making it a mobile bookstore. When you start, there is only one location you can go to, but more locations do open (two unlock before the demo ends). Anyway, your first day is just your tutorial day as you get some help by a local retiree who used to own a bookstore herself. After choosing the location you want to sell, you’ll be taken to stock your shelves. You can stock your shelves any way you want or based on the most sold books in that location, whether it’s a variety of all genres or just a couple. Once you’re ready, it’s time to drive out and open your shop!

As time passes, residents of this seaside town will come, visit your little shop, and browse for books. If they find what they want they’ll buy it and they have a chance at buying multiple books. However, there is a bit more to this. Every genre has a sell chance, which basically means that when a customer is looking for a Crime book it’ll look at the sell chance since you don’t buy specific books. The sell chance depends on how many books in that genre is stocked: more chance of the customer buying something the more you have and less the less you have (and as the day goes on this lowers as people buy books). Don’t worry, you don’t have to check them out manually. Although, you do need to help them manually as they’ll call for your help and you need to tap the icon before time runs out. If a customer needs help, they’ll tell you what they want, having you guess the genre, and a book they previously liked (and maybe want a similar book to it). To properly pick, you’ll actually be able to see the actual, specific, books you bought and a short blurb about them (I noticed some were even real books!). Based on your pick and what the customer wants, you’ll get a “Great”, “Okay”, or “Totally off the mark” rating. I only got three of these help requests and I was pretty bad at them, getting only one “okay” rating.

As you go to the next day, you’ll get a newspaper which will tell you current events, future events, the weather for that day and the next, and a sales section where you’ll be able to buy boxes of used books and decorations with the money you earned. For the books, you only get a short description that the seller put up. Book boxes can include a variety of genres or only one. From what I can tell, the boxes with variety are the nondescript ones while those that only have one will specifically say so. While you may want to have variety, there is a pro to getting a box with only one as instead of getting a few for every genre, you get a ton in one. Which can be helpful if you want to sell in a specific area and want the genre that sells the best there. Decorations allow you to get a boost to a genre or to other decorations of the same kind (some decorations will decrease something, however). You can buy decorations from other places, there’s a sailor in the first location you can buy maritime decorations, but there’s a downside. You don’t know the effects the decoration has until you buy, which is the only con that I have for this game. You’re also able to customize your bookshop by painting the outside and inside and putting up decorations. The bookshelf that is your book stock for the day is a decoration, so I wonder if you’ll be able to buy more bookshelves (hopefully of different styles) and display more than one (if so it looks like the max will be 3 if you don’t have a decoration on the platform they sit on). And then, it’s time for you to set out to your chosen location and stock your shelves. Another day, another book sold.

Oh and did I mention you can change the colors of the genres in the settings? I was not expecting this as a setting and it’s such a nice detail you can change! I do think the default colors were well picked (I only made the Crime books redder) and this makes me wish there was a Romance genre so I can have an excuse to have pink books.

Man, you know when a demo is good when the reaction to hitting the end is “Wait what noooo”. Like I said before, I’m so happy this got a demo and now I’m even happier that I enjoyed it. I can’t wait until I can play the full game.

Todomiro

When I saw the trailer on the little popup I literally was so intrigued as I watched. I actually didn’t know this was a hidden object game until I started playing, but I was interested in having a “cozy adventure with a magical zooming ability. So, I played its demo!

Todomiro is a hidden object game and the demo covers one level where a poor little guy stranded on a boat asks you to find his friends. As you zoom out, you find out that the little guy is in a cup of coffee and zooming out more reveals that the cup of coffee is in a small home. To find his other friends, you’ll need to zoom in on anything that you feel another little guy will reside. However, you’ll also have to do some puzzle solving to find some of them. The puzzles are pretty easy, like finding a key or connecting all the pipes, and will lead you to another little guy you need to find.

I really liked Todomiro. This one was a really short demo, but it was really charming and I liked this twist on the hidden object genre. I’ll definitely play this when it fully releases.