FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD41 → Off the Hook

Off the Hook

By occultone, Firesong Bard, Christian Williames and KaraTai

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall2313.8126
Fun6953.2026
Innovation4803.4726
Theme8573.2026
Graphics934.3726
Audio953.9326
Mood154.3526

Comments

dekobii 2018-04-24 07:15

The best graphics ive seen in LD41! awesome concept as well, just wish it had more depth (get it!) The music creates a nice ambiance as well, and the controls are very straightforward. Well done

occultone 2018-04-24 07:36

Nick: Awwwww Thanks @dekobii ! This makes me happy. I'm usually only doing programming, so it's awesome to get positive feedback on the models.

I wish we had more time, we had a ton of great ideas that just required too much time to execute. So we focused on the core gameplay, and we'll have to see how we're received, maybe if folks like it we'll finish out the vision for it.

heyycap 2018-04-24 07:48

5/5 for graphics. And not too scary!

owainb 2018-04-24 07:54

Cool game!

atmospherium 2018-04-24 13:39

Really impressive work. Mood was top notch, graphics were top notch, just the right amount of audio presence to keep you on edge. One of the more polished entries I've seen in a long time.

occultone 2018-04-24 17:12

@heyycap : Thanks! I'm very happy the graphics are getting well received, they were truly a team effort. @OwainB : Thanks man! I'll get to yours shortly! @atmospherium : We really had a focus on Polish first and Gameplay first. I should take a screenshot of our entire model lineup, including all the stuff that didn't get used.

anthony-dunlap 2018-04-24 18:39

Great game, I could swim around for hours. The graphics are excellent and the music builds suspense.

smiley-4 2018-04-24 19:10

Great game. The graphics and the audio really created an dense atmosphere.

occultone 2018-04-24 19:53

@Anthony Dunlap : I'm glad! Our gameplay guru and music overlord will be pleased to hear that! @SMILEY_4_ : I'm very pleased with the overall mixing. It was a collaboration between my wife and I so I'm glad we are gelling well with this kind of game. Horror is one of our favorite genres. So much praise for the graphics, very unexpected!

tygrak 2018-04-24 22:03

Wish I could try your game guys, but when I try to launch it I get: "All resolution switches have failed Screen: DX11 could not switch resolution (1920x1080 fs=1 hz=0)" I have direct x11 so I am not sure what the problem is.

rawrasaur 2018-04-24 22:56

Great atmosphere. Would be keen to see what the evolution of this game looks like. :)

occultone 2018-04-25 01:36

@Tygrak : What are your specs? That's unusual to see, it's Unity so not a custom engine or anything. @Rawrasaur : Thanks! We really loved the concepts that came out of it. Gonna see how it does before we make any long term decisions on it. Still working on ATLANTIS from LD38.

hemlocksoames 2018-04-25 04:05

This is probably my favorite hour mini-experience I've had in a while. The Art and Sound Design really makes it come together.

tygrak 2018-04-25 14:47

@OccultOne Yeah I know it's Unity, I am really not sure what the problem could be, all other Unity games work for me. I use Windows 7 but hope that's not a problem. If you guys could make a Linux build I could maybe try it on Linux.

occultone 2018-04-25 20:53

@Tygrak : I've spun off a completely untested Linux build for you. Let me know if this works if you don't mind. I'm sorry the Windows build isn't working! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z4UxI5aE9wT1gnXOoGP2QPTroubdX3uB/view?usp=sharing

jaime-paz-lopes 2018-04-25 21:36

it is a cool game, but it is too simple. I think it needs stuff to do besides avoid the net, maybe adding fish simulation activities like eat, sleep, or any other thing to force the player to take risks.

firesong-bard 2018-04-25 21:45

@jamie-paz-lopes , I completely agree. The first thing we blocked out for design was a mechanic that would force you to venture out to put themselves in danger (because that's the core of the horror game). We had a neat mechanic planned where fish food would periodically drop from the top of the tank, which would give you the ability to speed bost. The net would, over time, get faster moving through the cage, and you'd need a speed bost to get away from it if it managed to get behind you.

We chose to go Polish First, gameplay second for this jam, and I still stand by that choice. But I do hope we get to revisit this project and add the fish food mechanic to flesh out the complexity of gameplay.

tikikala 2018-04-26 00:12

i dont think actual restaurant fishtanks uses aquarium decorations.... but it's a nice scary fishy game

idk what easter eggs there are supposed to be but i had a memory issue after first play and i have to refresh

lakrits 2018-04-26 00:20

Got graphical glitches on the WebGL version (big white spots with what looks like small black hockey pucks inside them). Tried downloading the exe and just got this error: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)". I have Windows 7 64bit.

The graphical glitches really ruins the mood on the WebGL version but from what I can see it looks really nice and atmospheric. Wish I could see it as intended.

occultone 2018-04-26 00:25

@Lakrits : I think Unity is having some kind of issue with Windows 7. We used the new 2017.4 build and I think they might have some kind of compatibility issue. I've reuploaded a version made in Unity 2017.3f1 and it works on my Windows 7 machine, can you give it a try? @Tikikala : Are you on Windows 7? 64 Bit Version?

tikikala 2018-04-26 00:32

@OccultOne i am on windows 8 idk what verison

beebo-studios 2018-04-26 00:39

I really did feel the dread of being a fish trapped in its personal hell that is also its home. Though I felt from the start how this game was going to end, I desperately tried to outsmart the net, until I was the only fish left. It was a dilemma, but I just had to sacrifice my friends. Didn't safe me, of course. The atmosphere is so insanely dense! It's actually hard to believe, you managed to create graphics like this in such short time! I think polish over gameplay definitely was the right decision on your side - It really does pay off. Considering it's a LD entry, your game is perfect to me as it is. Though if there ever will be a version with more gamey components, I will absolutely try it out.

Amazing entry, one of my favourites thus far <3

As a dolphin we usually hand out fishes to games we like, but after playing yours I am not so sure about this practice anymore. And I now feel bad about our own game for its extensive fish filetting part...

occultone 2018-04-26 00:51

@Tikikala : I've uploaded an x64 Edition of the game here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qmcK6IvK76Nx-aKotdTVyhhpswJNGqwa/view?usp=sharing . If you don't mind giving it a try.

occultone 2018-04-26 00:53

@Beebo Studios : This is probably my favorite review for LD ever. Thank you for that!

fabian-pohl 2018-04-26 01:22

Astounding Atmosphere, Sounddesign and Graphics. A cool perspective on horror games.

tygrak 2018-04-26 17:53

@OccultOne Thank you guys! The x64 version worked for me on windows 7!

Here's my review:

The mood of this game is so so good. The sound design and art work together so good! Most of the people are praising the graphics already, so I will just say that the sound design is a huge part too, and done so well. It really feels like you are in the water. You can knock yourself into the glass, desperately trying to escape, without a chance and the sound design makes it feel so real.

Being able to escape from the net forever (or atleast for a pretty long time, like I did) felt a bit goofy, these guys aren't too good at catching fish are they :D. Overall, I really loved this game!

occultone 2018-04-26 17:55

@Tygrak : I'm so glad I got it working for you. And I'm glad you got to experience it and it was worth the trouble!

tygrak 2018-04-26 18:08

@OccultOne I have also just now tried the Linux version and it works as well as the Windows version (tried it on Mint, so it probably works on Ubuntu and other Ubuntu derivates too). Thank you guys.

occultone 2018-04-26 18:23

@Tygrak : You're quite welcome. Glad to be of assistance! Thanks for playing!

hankworx 2018-04-27 19:52

Wonderful entry! The graphics are top notch and the fluid noises and atmosphere are very impressive. I did find the game to become somewhat boring/easy after an amount of time, and the single 'dunn' noise to get repetitive. Maybe the noise could play in different pitches randomly, or have 3-5 different similar noises. Overall great job. Would be very cool to see it pursued in further development.

occultone 2018-04-27 20:09

@hankworx : I think it would be less repetitive if we'd managed to get the other mechanics in. Horror thrives on lots of different things to break up the flow, and we just didn't have time. Our designer and sound gurus have strong interest in polishing the project. I agree though that the event flow could be better, we had some great ideas for an unfolding story using environmental storytelling to tell the player what is going on, but it got cut. I still like my idea of the toddler/child running up and banging on the tank, leaving gross hand prints.

Thanks for giving us a play! Glad you enjoyed it!

2018-05-02 14:13

Wonderful graphics, well made game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 41 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wurw5JuaZs

occultone 2018-05-02 22:49

@Jupiter_Hadley : Thanks so much for giving us a play!

cristiano-m-garcia 2018-05-07 00:47

Good job! Cool game!

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape