Chalk Gardens

Chalk Gardens is a cute and imaginative exploration game about dealing with life's setbacks.

You play as a child exploring dangerously high rooftops while looking for a way to fix your doll.


What's in the game?

  • it's a short game
  • fantastic art depicting a child's view on a unique setting
  • metroidvania-esque exploration play
  • a meaningful message subtly woven into both the mechanics and the story of the game
  • events and multiple ways to react to them
  • talking with stuffed animals
  • hats!!
  • other available languages: Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese

Troubleshooting

Make sure to unzip the files you've downloaded.

If you run into any issues or would like a refund, please send a message through the following contact form: https://www.redowlgames.nl/contact/

Thank you!

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

version-4.9.zip 183 MB

Development log

Comments

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Love the artwork!

<3

Um jogo muito divertido e leve de jogar, tem uma gameplay muito boa e passa um significado maravilhoso <3

Thank you for playing!! :D

This game was so fun to play! The art style is beautiful and im totally gonna replay this <3

Yay! :D Thanks for playing! :)

Any chance of a Mac version?

I'm afraid it's not in the cards :s

This would require a Mac development set-up and a significant amount of time, and I have neither in the foreseeable future. :)

I've responded to your other query via e-mail! :)

cute game, kid friendly too.

Thanks! :)

cool game:D 10/10 tbh! i CANNOT get over the style its so cute like aaahh💓💓

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Ahh thanks! <3 Thanks for playing! :)

nice game :)

Thank you! :) Thanks for playing!

Love the artwork, but I can't play the game. when the character loads, I can't move, nor do I know what to do. 
WASD doesn't move the character, nor do the arrow keys. Nothing happens when I click on the cat with the exclamation point. There's no tutorial or instructions, so I'm just staring at a pretty screen but with no game to play. :(

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Hi! That's strange! Are you playing in a browser or have you downloaded the game? What browser or what OS are you playing on?

It sounds like the game is out of focus (if you're playing in a browser), clicking on the game should bring focus back and allow you to move around and talk.

Depending on what you played, can you try playing via browser or downloading the game and see if you experience the same problem?

Let me know if you were able to play using these pointers or not! :)

I was playing on Windows 11 web version, and yep I definitely clicked a lot - I spent a good 3-4 minutes trying different things to get it to work because the game looks so pretty 😅

Ah sorry maybe I posted stuff that was a little too obvious!

This is the first time I've heard of this issue, so there's not really a solution. But downloading the game should definitely circumvent the problem!

Hopefully noone else runs into this. It could be something in the new Windows 11 that doesn't mesh well with the game somehow.

Just to confirm: the buildings are loaded in right? There is no blue background and that you're just standing in the void? Does clicking the mute or language button in the top-right corner do anything?

In any case, I would definitely recommend downloading the game and saving yourself any possible frustration about trying different things to get this to work in the browser!

If more people have this same problem, I can look into reproducing it and finding a definitive fix.

Thanks for reporting the problem! Hope the game runs smoothly when downloaded and you enjoy it! :)

Additionally, thanks for the compliment about the looks of the game! :)

Really lovely game with some gorgeous artwork and a banging soundtrack! Awesome job!

Thanks! :) Thank you for playing!

I really enjoyed playing this whimsical and magical game where your drawings come to life and your stuffed toys talk to you. It brought back memories of a nostalgic childhood of dreams and imagination.  I hope to see more from Red Owl Games as you have so much creativity to share!

Thank you for your kind words! (and for playing and recording!) Good to hear the game brought back good memories. :)

I'm not saying anything will happen in the near future regarding new games, but I'm also not completely ruling it out!

In any case, comments like this are really motivating.

Thank you!

Chalk Gardens was marinating in my bookmarks bar and I finally got to play today :D I gave Dolly the turtle hat! Then proceeded to ugly sob because of the end frame—really needed those words :]

Ahhh I just love, love, love everything about this <3 Thank you for making this wonderful game!

Thank you very much for playing the game! It's great to see comments like this, it's really motivating! Thank you for playing! :)

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Such a sweet game. Thanks for making this! I really enjoyed the change in soundtrack to match the different hats.

Haha! Glad you noticed and liked it! :) Thanks for playing!

What a fantastic game! The art style was so pleasing to the eye and the storyline was integrated so well. It hits quite close to home too. I had thought I was trapped in certain areas but turns out I just couldn't find the ladder, haha! Such a stunning game with a wonderful storyline, will recommend to a friend. <3

Wow! Great to hear that you got such a good experience out of the game! Thank you for playing! :)

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This game is wonderful, I love everything about it! ❤

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Thank you! It's great to hear you like it! :)

i haven't completed the game yet but is there any flashing or bright scenes in the game?  I want to recommend it to a friend with epilepsy. It's a very cute game so far and I'm enjoying it greatly also :D 

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Hey! Thanks for asking! There are no specific 'special effect' scenes that are overly bright and/or flashing. However, the transitions between different scenes (e.g. between the menu and the game itself or between different scenes in the game) are quite abrupt. I don't know if this will be a problem for your friend. (I hope it won't be)

Thanks for playing and good to hear you're enjoying the game! :)

This was really cute! I confess I spent way too much time looking for the leg, believing I could fix all the problems... I never did get it. But it was still okay for Dolly in the end.

Thank you for playing! :) It's very gratifying to hear that people still enjoy the game and experience something when playing it :)

Such a cute game! I didnt get to wear the irrational hat, so I'm definitely gonna play it again! :> Love the chalk drawings!

Thank you for your comment! :) Hope you had fun playing the game :)

this game is so cute.

Thank you! :)

I really enjoyed this game! The graphics were very nice and the message was heartfelt. Thank you.

Thank you for playing! :)

this game was so fun and cute !!!

Thanks for playing! :)

This was adorable! I really enjoyed the artwork and the messaging. The events that opened up different paths were also a nice touch, along with the musical changes. The character design is very memorable and expressive. Really great job!

Thank you very much for playing the game and posting a let's play! :D

I was *not* prepared for the musical adventure you turned this into but it was very enjoyable to watch! Had some laugh-out-loud moments as well. :D

"this game is absolutely delightful" *proceeds to walk into wall*

Thanks for playing! :)

Haha! You're welcome and thanks for watching!

Beautiful game! Love the art and message.

thanks for making and sharing this game

Thank you for playing it! :) Good to hear you enjoyed it.

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cute and sweet. love the positive messages behind the game.
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Thank you very much for playing!

Really cool that you make your own stuffed animals! I especially like the piggies made of different materials. Though I'm obliged to say I like the owls as well. :P

Thanks!

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Thank you so much. And ur welcome

I give this game a 5 Star. It is a really good game for children to play.  Help them follow instructions and a life lesson too. Thank you for such a pleasant experience.

Thank you for your kind words! :)

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Made a video

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Liked a video. :p Thanks for playing and creating the video! :)

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Happy you liked the video, really loved the game it's art style was cute and the story was really good for a short game. Looking forward to what you will come up with next.

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It looks very nice. :)

Thanks! :)

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Found a bug. After giving up on the search, I followed the path and stepped onto a blinking circle. Then the game threw an exception and crashed.

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Oh no! I'm sorry! Thanks for reporting this. If it's not too much trouble, can you send me some information about your browser and what kind of computer/mac you're playing on? (Like, what model is it) I have a contact form on my website: https://www.redowlgames.nl/contact/ (the e-mailaddress is optional)(I'm a bit wary about dropping e-mail addresses out in the open)

Also, if you send the lion/turtle/owl levels you had when the game crashed, I can reset the game to that point for you. If you want.

We're going to look into what caused this issue and I'll post an update when we've found it.

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I don't remember the exact values for each animal, but I think the bug may be because I had no blank hats (since usually, touching a blinking circle starts an event that consumes a hat).

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Ah okay! Thanks for the information. :) I'll post a reply here when we've found that bug. >:)

This has (most likely) now been fixed. Thanks again for reporting this issue. :)

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Wow. This game is BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you! :)

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This was lovely. :) The text was a little fast at times but overall, really nice. Poor Dolly. 

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Thank you so much for playing! It was absolutely brilliant to watch you play the game!

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Awww, thank you! I'm glad you like it. :) 

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Any chance for a download too? 

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Hi! Thanks for asking this. We are going to build for windows. After testing whether it works as intended, we will upload it here. :) We expect to upload this windows build today.

Great, thank you. :)

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It's up! Have fun! :)

Downloading.. I'll play after the livestream. :) #workWorkWorkWork