Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD47 → Hide and Seek
By ddrkirbyisq and Xellaya
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 42 | 4.25 | 52 | |
| Fun | 539 | 3.56 | 54 | |
| Innovation | 357 | 3.73 | 54 | |
| Theme | 269 | 4.07 | 53 | |
| Graphics | 60 | 4.50 | 55 | |
| Audio | 5 | 4.66 | 55 | |
| Mood | 1 | 4.76 | 55 |
Man, I was looking forward to some of your music. I'm afraid this spooks me too much. I guess that's kind of a good thing? It's really good, I'm not just not one for horror.
Having the eye shutting and hiding actions do the same thing confused me quite a bit. Especially the first time I hid under a table I thought the game bugged out.
Probably the biggest scare I ever got from a jam game, when "it" came to get me... (maybe I should've turned my headphone-volume down a bit ^^) The visuals in this game are very beautiful. The audio cues create a really, really dense mood. Unfortunately I wasn't able to decipher the piano sequence. It seemed like one up, two up, two down, but I think I tried every combination, to no avail... Maybe you could link the solution somewhere for people who want to finish the game but can't figure this one out. Due to this circumstance the hiding mechanic actually got a bit annoying, I feel like "it" could take a bit longer to visit again... The looping mechanic however is very well implemented, the first loop came as a real surprise! Really enjoyed this overall and I'd totally play it again if you could help me out with that piano.
@erkberg: Thanks for playing our game!
Using ROT13 cipher, the solution is:
``` Q T N S
va bgure jbeqf, gjb svir fvk sbhe ```
Another horror game, do you plan to make it a habit? That's what I guess with the "to be continued…" :laughing: As always, polished graphics and sounds, really moody atmosphere, and a point'n click with some tricks, I enjoyed to play it, well done!
I was looking forward to playing the game you guys did this time, buuuuuut after a few minutes I passed this one. I am way too easily spooked and it totally reminded me of a lot of those old jumpscare-flash games that were popular when newgrounds was still a thing. And looking at Erkbergs review, it was probably the right choice. :D However: Audio is great as usual with mood/immersion to match, i love the graphics and i actually cant remember ever playing hide and seek as a video game with those mechanics, so thumbs up for innovation as well. However, since I didn't complete it, i didn't rate overall, fun and theme. Maybe ill find someone who will play it with (or rather: for) me - then ill return to give you the perfect score it probably deserves ;)
The audio is awesome and the children's book style drawing fits really well. It captured the PT-style mystery and puzzle that you want to solve, but eventually I stopped since I had no real hint of how to proceed.
As usual - fantastic presentation with art/audio - and really cool take on the theme. I had to unfortunately stop after that Raven scared the bejesus out of me for the umpteenth time.
Maybe my favorite game from you guys and first I won't finish :P Will come back to it later though, for now some rest for my poor heart. Fantastic entry over all!
Beat the game, fantastic take on the theme! Loved the whole PT-horror vibe, would love to see more. The audio was on point, and the jump scares very effective. Tips for those stuck: the books give a hint on the stage of the game you're at, if you see the same passage means you're at the same stage. If the game says there's a sound, try closing your eyes to listen better.
Oh boy, that was suprisingly scary. Every time! I was pleasantly surprised how the theme suddenly came in, I forgot all about it when I started playing. I got stuck for quite a while because I forgot about shift again. (And once the game really got stuck, I couldn't come back from a table, so I restarted), but I found the end eventually! I wonder how it will continue, I guess I need some closure. :wink: Graphics and the sounds are great, wonderful job!
@papaver: Thanks for playing and for your comment! I also found the bug with being unable to unhide -- I believe that happens whenever you die as you are in the middle of unhiding. That's been addressed in v1.02! Thanks again :)
This is a great take on the theme. The mood is top-tier, and everything works together really well to make the experience polished. I really want to know more after finishing the game.
Brilliant fusion of audio and gameplay, intriguing narrative, and great atmosphere! I liked it, but kinda scary too... ^_^
Really great game, audio and visuals work really well.
There was a small but annoying bug where the text starts again immediately after the last text panel (e.g. when reading the book in the book shelf about the ducklings). I guess it fits to the theme of stuck in a loop, but after the 10th time reading the same book it got a bit boring ;). It's probably because pressing space to close the last panel also triggers opening the first text panel.
@smbe19 Thanks for the bug report! Looks like that was a framerate-dependent bug, which is why I wasn't able to reproduce it initially. Should be fixed in v1.04. Thanks for the feedback and for playing our game!
Scary! I'm not good with jump scares, so maybe good to get a warning before playing the game, but I dealt with it. I was able to get to the end, though I had to use your hint for the piano, I kept thinking 2 and 4 notes were the same. I noticed the slow movement at first and was like uhoh this will be scary, and the reveal of the loop was surprising. The story elements gave just enough insight to make it more scary too haha. Nice job!
Hats off !!! I thought while playing that it's the kind of game I would be proud to have programmed, it's so refined and it just tickles all the boxes for me.
Thank you for this experience !
Nice game, well done !!
Using ROT13 cipher, the *feedback* is: ``` Avpr cvnab chmmyr! V erzrzorerq n irel fvzvyne rcvfbqr sebz Haqregnyr.
V qba'g frrz gb nqq serfu naq havdhr cbfvgvir pbzzragf.
Ubjrire, V unir GJB fznyy jvfurf: 1. Vg jbhyq or terng gb fbzrubj trg n abgvsvpngvba nobhg gur eryrnfr bs gur frdhry (vs nal). 2. Shyy-fperra zbqr jbhyq or irel nccebcevngr sbe zber vzzrefvba va gur tnzr. 3. V jbhyq yvxr gb or cneg bs lbhe grnz, vs cbffvoyr. Znlor :)
Gunax lbh naq xng sbe guvf jbaqreshy tnzr! ```
@fumybulb: Thanks for the comment! The subsequent release (if it happens) will probably end up being a post-jam update to this same game. You can follow my account here on the LD site for updates, or feel free to follow on twitter at https://twitter.com/ddrkirbyisq if that's easier.
@aeveis: Thanks for the feedback. Content warnings are a great idea; that's been added to the game page.
I am so so invested in this game. I deman a full game :D please... Loved the puzzles, loved the artstyle, loved the mechanics, loved the sound effects, loved the selected notes in the library, LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. Please continue developing the game, I myself may not be able to offer much, but I'd definitely love to lend you a hand in anyway I can. This project is just... so endearing. great job you two :thumbsup: Hope this game gets the attention it deserves.
Finally got a chance to play! Nice take on PT style horror. The sounds were really well done (I played with headphones!), the player foot steps were a bit loud, but added a nice bit of drama and anticipation. I got to the end (I think), but I wonder if there are multiple endings if I did things differently during the game?
During the count down sequence at the beginning, I thought I needed to hold the shift button the whole time and then released once it reached 10. I sat there for a while thinking that the dialog would advance automatically before realizing I needed to press space. I was confused about the controls at first, and had to look back at the ludum page to see that I could use "space" to interaction. Perhaps with the first thing you go near that you can interact with or in order to leave the first room you could prompt a "space" to interact instruction.
That's one pretty yet disturbing game.
Started playing this game because you know, we should be helpful and play other people's games. Yeah, so I'm STILL playing this thing after I don't know how many minutes. Thanks for creating this! Love it!
Wow, this is heavily underrated/underplayed if you ask me! That was fantastic! We tried to do a moody horror game as well (though with a completely different game play focus) that's why I appreciate the work you put into the sound design even more. It's really hard to get a horror atmosphere going when working against the clock but you really pulled it off almost flawlessly. Every encounter with the thing really startled me and sent some shivers down my spine. The sound design was spot on and very well done. The art was, as well, fabulous! The child book aesthetics fits the theme very well and adds a lot to the creepy mood. But if that all wasn't already enough for a jam entry, you even managed to put in more game play mechanics like the eye closing stuff to enhance the hearing to solve riddles and such. I hope you didn't loose to many players with the piano riddle. I often have trouble hearing notes and playing them afterwards. I at least managed to do it :) When I saw the piano mechanics in the beginning, I already hoped that you would include it in such a way. And you delivered!
The only issue I had with your game was the controls, mainly the interaction with spacebar. Often, the last press of space to clear the dialog box would instantaneously spawn the dialog again. Which was especially frustrating when interacting with the book shelf, since there was a lot of text. I had to sit through the whole text three times until I was able to get away. There seems so be some sensitivity issue with the button inputs. I don't know if I was the only one with this problem.
All in all, VERY well made game. Great sound design and mood. By far the best in this category in this LD. You managed to really build upon the mood with each passing loop and of course, did implement the theme in a way I really appreciate. I've already sent your game around for others to play :)
Congrats!
@duke: Thanks for playing our game, and for the detailed feedback! Sorry that you had to deal with that input bug, I had already tried to deal with it earlier but it's admittedly a bit difficult to debug since it's framerate-dependent and inconsistent. I've put in a (better) fix for it now in 1.06 so hopefully other players won't run into that again.
@ddrkirbyisq Thanks for the effort! I'm running a 144hz setup, if that information helps!
@duke: That definitely makes sense! I wasn't properly handling the case where visual updates were happening more frequently than physics updates (d'oh). If you wouldn't terribly mind trying again to see if it's resolved on your side on 1.06, I'd greatly appreciate it :)
Fantastic work! There isn't a game this jam that kept me on my toes like this one. The art and audio were amazing, and I really loved the little details you added like the book passages. They really make the game feel alive.
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Spoiler Related Feedback (ROT13):
V jnf gbb fpnerq gb fbyir gur cvnab chmmyr fb V purngrq naq ybbxrq hc gur nafjre :(.
V guvax gung ehaavat onpx naq sbegu orgjrra gur cvnab naq gur onguebbz gb pbcl n zrybql vf n ovg grqvbhf ol vgfrys. (creuncf vs V unq n xrlobneq arkg gb zr vg jbhyq'ir orra rnfvre). Ohg xabjvat gung fbzr funqbj-l oveq zbafgre pbhyq nggnpx znqr zr ernyyl nirefr gb qbvat gur gnfx.
Vg jnf ernyyl uneq sbe zr gb sbphf ba gur zrybql orpnhfr bs gur ybbzvat zbafgre, ohg V pbhyq frr gung orvat gur vagragvba. Znlor ubeebe tnzrf nera'g sbe zr?
---
Once again, fantastic work! I really enjoyed it!
@ddrkirbyisq Works like a charm in 1.06 :)
@sharkwithlasers: No that's completely valid feedback and I think other people's experiences match yours. That particular puzzle needs a rework of some sort, though I have not figured it out yet. Of course I have perfect pitch so I had now idea how easy or difficult this sort of thing is for other people ;P
@duke: Awesome, thank you!
It was scary, beautiful and interesting, wonderful job! I loved it!
Amazing game, the monster you could only hear was truly scary, and the sound puzzle felt really good to solve. Can't wait for the To Be Continued!
Awesome! Nice use of the theme (do I detect some PT influence? :P) and the concept is great, I love the use of audio cues - not enough games do this kind of thing. Great use of hide & seek to introduce the concept of closing your eyes too, in fact the whole game had pretty smooth gameplay progression which was nice.
Super atmospheric and spooky too of course - the first time the monster got me it scared the hell out of me. (It was a little frustrating, I know that there was a prompt to listen for danger before that but for some reason I didn't think to keep doing that continually - maybe a subtle audio cue you could hear with your eyes open may have been nice there.) The main gameplay of listening for the monster and hiding was cool and made sense, though once I figured it out it was kind of a chore to keep doing and stopped being as scary. Maybe the monster shouldn't come around as often - it was fairly predictable, so maybe making it unpredictable would be scarier.
Took me a few tries to do the audio puzzle, even with fairly good relative pitch (though not perfect pitch) I found it to be be a bit difficult. I think the distance between where you can hear the melody and the piano, plus the harmony alongside the melody, plus the fact that the melody didn't start on C like the inputs did (making it difficult to identify the key center as you try notes) made it more difficult than it needed to be. Still a really cool mechanic. Around that point it became less scary/atmospheric (maybe since I knew what to expect) and more about just exploring the space/story, but I still enjoyed playing it through. And what a cliffhanger! Would love to see more. Great work! :D
@adhesion: Thank you for playing our game and thank you for your feedback. I'm happy to report that the audio puzzle has been improved in multiple ways in the new (post-jam) edition:
- The interface for playing notes on the piano is much less clumsy. You can now play multiple notes without having to reopen the dialog box every single time, which was slow and awkward. - There is now a corresponding visual cue of soft glowing lights that appear when closing your eyes, that correspond to the notes. I think this retains the spirit of the puzzle while also making it more accessible to those who are hearing-impaired or tone-deaf.
The idea was to create an opportunity for you to listen to something, not to test your ear training. I hope that the new implementation does a better job of that.
The monster needs a bit more mulling over before we decide exactly what to tweak and/or change with it.
Wow, that was very scary! Great job! Gung fhqqra gjvfg ng gur raq ernyyl znxrf zr jnag gb cynl zber! Zr naq bgure qrirybcref naq tnzref ernyyl jnag gb frr zber, rfcrpvnyyl fbzr vasb nobhg gung gjvfg ng gur raq. Cyrnfr znxr n frdhry be rkgraqrq irefvba! Jr arrq gb xabj zber nobhg gur enira-yvxr perngher!
@peace-of-cake-games: Thank you for playing! We really hope to be able to tell the second part of the story as well.
This game was terrifying. I love all the twists, jump scares, and how where the bedroom should be turns into a loop. Truly amazing game, the sound effects and art were also so great.
I loooove horror games and yours is great. Well done!
Oh man this was super scary but also extremely fun! I got so wrapped up in the story I became determined to see it all the through. Amazing job! Loved everything about it
By the time I had the guts to find where the loop was I was hooked! Teammates dared me to go in blind...
Incredible! Maybe my fave game of the jam. 5/5 for audio, obviously! Do you use/have you thought about using audio middleware (FMOD or Wwise) for a game this? If not, definitely scope it out!
This is super solid for a game made by two people! Mood, audio and Art were on point, great job !
Me, playing this game:
ok, spooky as hell... ...
...
...
AAAAH DEMON BIRD!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
(Seriously tho, amazing. and you seriously did this in 3 days? i am in awe.)
I loved the atmosphere and the sound of the game that's what I prefer so far, I admit that the monster freaked me out a little once or twice, in any case the games are very taking and the graphics are really cute they look like DA of a 2d thread that I was able to make in a group ^^ except for the woman in the bathtub lol. the only downside I would say are the steps may be too strong
ps: I would like to put sounds like this in my games with this precision
My favorite game of the game. This is beautiful. Amazing! Good job!
I avoid horror games and movies like the plague but I thought hey, it IS halloween, let's jump in! I progressively lowered the volume each time something got spookier lol, and I DEFINITELY dropped it to a minimum the first time the beast got me.
I got stuck a few loops later but I can definitely appreciate the game for what it is. I thought the eye close mechanic was very cool and I really like the "locked room mystery" setting, like the Hateful Eight. Being stuck in a loop here actually accentuated the horror theme a lot, because it makes you feel a sense of dread that there's really no escape.
The art is really great and cohesive. Hell it even looks like you took a decent amount of time making that title screen look good.
I love how you're always evolving your style and experimenting with new ideas and genres. Happy to have played this game despite my cowardice!
I'm usually not in the mood for horror games, but I decided to give this one a try and I must say I'm impressed. No cheap jumpscares and very clear mechanics, it left me with the need to know what happens next. Hope I can see what's coming up with it. I managed to understand the game with about two failures and I very much liked how it progressed! The audio was quite immersive and earned my 5 stars on the mood category. Hope to see more from the game sometime soon! Keep up the great work!
Yeah, I'm glad I'm alone at home. My scream was way too embarrassing.
firefox_W5Bbrl0a4O.png
I can appreciate a horror game, but not play them much myself, since I'm a coward to the bone. I lasted 2 minutes in Amnesia before turning the game off and never playing it again.
steam_QaDkGpxw7Z.png
But since this one made it into my feed, I decided to give it a try. And yeah, I'm super impressed at the game, and had my fair share of scares. I kept playing with my sound settings on the fly, expecting horrors at every corner (and the horrors coming to me more often than not).
It's the most atmpospheric game of the jam I've played to date. I did get stuck at some point, so I'll have to read around about how to make it through. But otherwise, it was very thrilling! The art and audio work so well together! Way to go! :whale:
[Your game was suggested for us to play on stream last night!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/781046795?t=03h40m47s)
Hoooooooo boooooiiiii did this game get to me. This is some top-notch horror right here. Super creepy atmosphere, and a complete lack of (obnoxious) jumpscares, absolutely my cuppa tea. I sincerely hope that "To Be Continued..." was genuine, I would love to see more of this.
I actually made it before the bad things got me, so now i have to start again, what i managed to avoid ;) really cool atmosphere, got me hooked to avoid the danger and hide immediately
Awesome job setting the atmosphere and the mood. Congratulations!
One of the best game I have played here. Would love to move with WASD :-(
Nice scary game, very polished. The visual style it's pretty cute and polished, I liked the cloudy borders you used, it gave it a dreamy look, that I think fit with the game atmosphere. The sound design is amazing, and it truly improves the mood/atmosphere of the game that is, for me, the best part of it. The sound for the crow arrival is very oppressing!
I've played both jam and post jam versions.
My biggest issue with the jam one was the music puzzle. Fact is, I've understood pretty well what I had to do and also somewhat how the not were related to each other, but it was too hard to perform without any hint. I think another issue is that the sounds you here from the door are not a piano one (or at least sounds different from the piano notes), that makes it even harder to choose the proper sounds. You fixed it in the post jam and now is clearly easier but yea, this is the kind of fix the removes the listen part because visually is so much easier. Maybe, to help def people, the best solution would be to have a setting for them? Like enable visual clues.
Also, adding fullscreen would have been so nice (maybe with itch.io you could have obtained it for free? you know, the settings in edit game), it would have improved the mood since fullscreen makes it easier to focus and immerse into the game.
Maybe another little things that could be improved is the purpose (?) of your actions, I'll try to better explain what I want to say. Basically, after the first part, you have to unlock the door with the music, and it was a nice puzzle, but I was not sure how it fit with the game apart being a gamey thing to increase length. After that you have the teapot thing, again it seemed there just to add a bit of length to the game, but to me was a bit pointless so it detracted from the game itself. I know that the teapot appears in the room to make you think that the crow was in fact the little girl (even though it appears also when you are with her), but it seemed a bit "rushed" just to give some "easy" meaning. This is not a huge issue it's just something I think could be improved to make the game better, but being a jam game I think you already did a lot.
What I really loved is how you gave the hint on this page. Instead of putting the hint directly into the description, to avoid spoilers or accidentally read the solution, you put a text here that must be decrypted using the page you link, and also you made it so you give just a little hint and then the full solution. I've appreciated it since I just needed to know the notes and with them I've managed to complete the puzzle (jam version of course). I mean, you could have just added a spoiler block (I'm not sure if it is available on this page tho) but this solution is more cool to be honest, nice to know about it, I may reuse it in the future!
I would have liked the "close your eyes" mechanics to be used more. Reading the description I thought it was more important to the game, while it's more of a gimmick to know when the crow is coming (and for the music puzzle).
Those are just my thought and suggestions, at the end I've really enjoyed the game and it's atmosphere! Great work!
Congrats, an outstanding entry! A really strong and unique concept, immaculate implementation, and a great atmosphere. I'm glad I could get some high votes in just as the rating period ends. Good luck with the ratings, I fully expect this game to end with very high scores across the board.
Congratulations on winning the Mood category! Here's a little celebratory sketch I whipped up. It's not perfect, but at least I managed to actually draw something with a touchpad!
Hide & Seek - Sketch.png
I got stuck in the middle of the game, after the black blob with red eyes appeared. I am so stuck, I need help!! I have been going in loops for an hour, haven't got any further. Please help, I really like this game so far. Also, how do you hide? Thanks.
@heyimrachel: Hi there. There are a couple of locations that you can hide in, using the space key to interact.
If you are stuck, you may wish to view the playthrough at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNZ-cBbILFQ