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Dear Substance of Kin
Dear Substance of Kin
By deconstructeam
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 10 | 4.28 | 61 | |
| Fun | 493 | 3.33 | 61 | |
| Innovation | 63 | 3.87 | 61 | |
| Theme | 6 | 4.44 | 61 | |
| Graphics | 5 | 4.78 | 62 | |
| Audio | 1 | 4.65 | 61 | |
| Humor | 447 | 2.97 | 49 | |
| Mood | 2 | 4.66 | 61 | |
Comments
sn4pi
2019-04-30 14:28
This game fits the theme quite well! I love the graphics and the audio was perfect for getting into the whole story!
However I felt a bit uneasy, that there is no explanation concerning the painting of the backs of the people. I needed like over 10 minutes to understand how it has to be done. Also, the gameplay was a bit too slow-paced in my opinion. And I crashed the game at the shrine (I just spammed the left mouse button while being in the cutscene and it swapped my y coordinate for every click I performed).
Still okay entry though! And superb story!
Absolutely beautiful as always. incredible soundtrack. I admit the ending was lost on me a bit, i'll have to replay this and see how it changes with different decisions.
♥♥
beautiful!! the assets and animations are really polished, the writing is great, and the music is amazing, adds so much to the feel of the game - this is a really interesting use of the theme, too! i could play a lot more of this :)
belea
2019-05-01 15:12
The atmosphere and the graphics are incredible, the music fits perfectly with the aesthetic. Good job, you make a great team.
Beautiful, the music, the graphics... I love it. Good Job!
You've created a really amazing mood to the game :open_mouth: I'd definitely play a much longer version, especially with the other characters that are named at the end.
Amazing entry! I didn't really see any consequences of my actions, but I'll make sure to try the post jam version when I'm able to.
mykola
2019-05-01 18:28
Amazing game, very immersive. Top scores for graphics and sound. Gameplay was really interesting, but a bit not so clear. Played it till the end with excitement and enjoyed it a lot!
Wow, the art and storytelling of this game are amazing! Story, art, animations, theme and sound are perfectely put together. i've never played a LD-game with such a rich atmosphere.
doomky
2019-05-01 22:31
Nice game, very atmospheric, rude, crude and sad... I love it... Could make a great game !
the graphics are so good.
amazing amount of work done here -- really want to play this some more -- thanks for making it
jyrkface
2019-05-02 06:22
Holy shit this is incredible. The art is amazing on every front. Blown away.
This is powerful. I am simply in awe. Just wanted to let you guys know that you are a huge inspiration for me. The art, the idea, the narration, the sound and music are absolutely incredible. This is a true work of art.
jam373
2019-05-02 15:10
Absolutely fantastic, top marks for art and sound! And such a hauntingly macabre world. Makes my game look like piss...
simanis
2019-05-02 16:36
One of the best LD games I've ever played and that is taking into consideration the fact that I dislike point & click genre. You obviously know what you're doing, so I won't offer any advice on improving it.
Cheers and good luck
Just perfect!!!! How are you that creative????? I really love your game/ experience <3 That IS art.
Really incredible experience, the production quality is just through the roof. I literally got chills, for the first time ever in a Ludum Dare entry. The writing is so deep and well thought through. The visuals are top tier, the audio is really good. Every single aspect of this game is a piece of art. Well done!
The Coppersmith must have taken my lungs for I am short of breath. This has to be the most engrossing experience I have ever had playing an LD game. I have a system for rating that put this at a 4.5 but I couldn't let that last half slip so you got a 5 overall. Fucking stunning work.
My favourite interaction is that with the warrior. He had no abode for the Coppersmith to enter and yet the smith still said "I am coming in". I loved that moment so much because it says such a lot about the respect the Coppersmith has for his work and the people he interacts with, despite the gruesome affair that it is. He gave the warrior the same treatment, regardless of home. Such a memorable moment.
Thank you so much for making this!
Impressive as always!
Great game! I am still not sure how the energy lines work. There is this pot with blood(?) that you can put on your fingers, before drawing the lines. In the game it is mentioned that if you do all of the lines, the person turns into stone; but I the blood refills quite slowly after you have used it (one line after each crimson cloth you collect) and I don't think you actually have enough when the jar is completely full. Also the gameplay is a bit slow-paced, but the mood is very good.
Wow! The mood in this one is so good. Graphics, music and sfx are top notch and the story got me intrigued until the end. My only complain is that the mobement is too slow. Top entry!!!
This is awesome. I saw it first on randomize user, it clearly is one another level. The lore seems so interesting and deep, this has so much potential. The graphics are amazing, the sound and music are sooo moody and fit perfectly. The dialogue convey something special, it really feels amazingly fresh and interesting. The humans are fals and very truthful at the same time, in awe of a god like creature that can fulfill their deepest wish easily, still at a great cost. Being humans, they naturally lie at first, but quickly yield to their desire to get something great. The setup for something amazing is done.
The other side of that: The gameplay. Until leaving the town and getting an explanation from an encounter, i had no idea i was cancelling lines on peoples backs. I had no idea i needed to move slowly with my finger. I quickly understood i needed to dip in the blood, but my intuition was to trace the lines and move fast, but this didn't really work. I basically cancelled all lines of all people. This seemed to be of no consequence at all.
I'm pretty critical with my ratings, but i can easily say that your games got the most 5 star ratings out of any game i played in 7 ludum dares. Not for fun or humor, but for everything else. I think your game is not a classically "fun" game, but fullfils it's purpose 100%. Humor should be an opt-out, i don't think it's supposed to be funny. But it feels so deep and very human, i think it is the opposite of light hearted, even scaring some people (in the most positive way).
Mood, graphics, and audio simply astounding for 72hrs. Asset reuse in the graphics was masterful. The setting and atmosphere of the game were very intriguing. The tracing on the back idea was cool but the game-play itself was a little lacking. I didn't really feel like I knew what to do or what my purpose as the coppersmith really was. Perhaps that was the intention though...
It's biggest strength is its own weakness. It is a wonderful case of showing without telling, but because of that, there is a sense of "wait, what am I supposed to do now?".
Amazing entry, I really like the mood, Perhaps you could add some animation to the overall environment's props to give it a little more or "life".
ekilibr
2019-05-04 21:07
Mood, sound and art are perfectly nailed. You made an awesome job...Really.
If I had to suggest a few things:
- We lack a bit of context at the very beginning of the game, making it hard on first hand to really be immersed into the world. - Considering the awesome quality of the game, I have to admit that I had high expectations on the end and so was a tiny bit disappointed by it (but hey, it's a Jam, and what you achieved is already mind-blowing) - On the control of the character, I had sometime trouble when it came to background collisions (a bit sticky). It could be a small immersion-breaker for some players
Overall a really great entry, with nothing to add nor change on anything related to art direction.
Great job!!!
jjjjason
2019-05-05 04:53
Oh dear lord the drums coming in after the first culling, I am truly done.
Looking forward to stories of the Mason and others.
gunnbju
2019-05-05 11:48
So so beautiful, love the mood.
Liked the painting of blood with the hand, didn't really make sense what you'd choose to do in that minigame though
Incredibly immersive game! The whole world and its concept, the mood, and music are quite the treat. And I didn't regret taking my time walking around, and I managed to seize the narrative fairly well as I played. To me, this simply has great potential post-jam. Congrats!
telepinu
2019-05-05 19:12
Amazing! The atmosphere settled in instantly.
The art, music were excellent, so were the dialogues and writing of the game!
This is one of the winners of the jam imo. It is incredible the quantity of assets and features you made in only 3-4 days. The quality is also incredible of course, perfect mood with the music and visuals. I haven't experienced any bugs either. The designs remembered me to Bloodborne, I imagine is one of your main references, and they are really good. I also like the lore and writing. I'm trying to find something to improve but it is really difficult. Maybe the movement sometimes is a bit annoying because you get stuck in walls, but it is just a detail. I hope you get a good position in the jam. Good luck and good job.
tifu
2019-05-06 16:37
Very great atmosphere, the music, graphics and the dialogue all set a really great tone! Great work! I was stumped at the first hurdle though as I had no idea I was supposed to dip my finger in the blood (like others I thought it was about tracing the lines) until I read some comments, and does it matter which lines you cut? It seems like you should only be cutting lines relating to their request but I cut them all :P Possibly something that was explored more in the post jam version as it mentions alternate endings?
ithildin
2019-05-06 23:04
Graphics, music and the setting in general were impressive as always, and it all converged together into a really clever use of the theme.
While I was engaged with the narrative, the main mechanic wasn't really clear, although it certainly was intriguing. I'm afraid I also assumed it would work by tracing rather than cutting, so now I guess I'll have to "suffer" the punishment of looking at some gorgeous, eerie visuals, listening to some cool post-rock track and becoming immersed into a haunting world once again ;)
Amazing job, congrats!
PS: The game shut down on me as I reached what I believe was the end? I'm not sure if I did complete it or if it crashed :sweat_smile:
This was great, loved the art and music, thought they worked so well together. The writing in this was also fantastic and kept me going further so that I could see more of it. Really enjoyable to journey through and see the different interactions with the villagers and the decisions you could make.
An impressive entry, guys. The mood, graphics, and audio were stellar. I was a bit unsure what to do after the first "killing," but I trudged on. Great writing, too, perhaps there should be a "Narrative" category. Fantastic entry!
joror
2019-05-11 14:10
Great art, soulfull sound, excellent writing! An impressive amount of polish & mood. On the gameplay side, it was not clear for me what my goal was with the blood drawing. Following the lines was my first guess. Now that I read here that it might be about severing them - that makes sense too. Would have loved to see a success/failure result out of that. (and maybe an initial tutorial drawing)
Nonetheless, I explored and felt the world-building come to life. Nicely done!
aim
2019-05-11 22:57
Unique, haunting, beautiful, awe-inspiring. One of the best game jam games I've seen. I've been game jamming for about 8 years. I'm very impressed by the attention to detail and unique mechanics you came up with. I could probably sit here typing for 10 minutes about each and every thing that makes this a fresh gaming experience, but I'm going to say just this: Everyone should give this game a go. It's good. Real good.
randdir
2019-05-13 15:19
Following a lot of your purchase project, and it was very a pleasure to play this concept. Really loved the idea immersive and graphics are, as always, "pixel perfect". Not very fan of voice in the music but guess it's for the ambiant theme. Nevermind keep it up guys you rocks !
pl4typus
2019-05-14 19:45
Snap. That is mood building. You guys know how to make stories.
barret
2019-05-18 02:34
So I don't even really know what I just played haha. I loved the beautiful pixel art. I am amazed how much detail and quality there was in a jam game. This could pass for final art in a full retail game.
The gameplay wasn't really that fun to me, probably b/c I didn't really understand what I was doing. But the music and the art kept me going to see more of the pretty beautiful art.
I made it a shrine and started levitating and then the game just closed out. I'm not sure if that's the intended ending. Anyways this is truly amazing.
I am not an artist so It blows me away to see such beautiful art.
tshiif
2019-05-18 08:34
A wonderful art style and easily the best atmosphere I've experienced thus far. This could work as a solid full length game, if built upon.
aeveis
2019-05-19 07:23
Interesting premise! I had the game crash for me at the very end when the coppersmith floats, but could be cool to see what the actions did. The drawing thing was a bit confusing to me at first because I thought I had to follow the line, but then realized I had to cross it. I could just click though as well to "cross" the line and sort of pick and choose. Not sure if any particular one changed the outcome. The pixel art is really nice, but the game is a bit too dark for me and it's hard to see what's going on. Nice job!
conk
2019-05-19 18:26
Incredible! Some of the best pixel art I've seen in all 14 weekends I've participated, which is saying something. The sheer amount at such a high quality is also very impressive. The game is incredibly solid, theme, audio and mood are all well rounded and fit together very well - it's clear you lot work well together :grinning:
Game play is a little confusing though as I was unsure if drawing blood on peoples back was working or not :stuck_out_tongue: Had a great time wandering around the world and interacting with all the characters. Fantastic job!