Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD47 → Suicidal Boyfriend
By federico-giorgi, BakemonoMori, Shamuraio, Raffo Sandro and enryg97
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 931 | 3.40 | 46 | |
| Fun | 1392 | 2.76 | 46 | |
| Innovation | 913 | 3.23 | 46 | |
| Theme | 529 | 3.85 | 46 | |
| Graphics | 542 | 3.85 | 47 | |
| Audio | 406 | 3.63 | 47 | |
| Mood | 409 | 3.75 | 47 |
It took a couple of rounds to get a hang of things, and to know what's out-of-place so I can use it as a clue. Having the hints stay longer than the loading screen would be nice, as it loaded so fast I could barely read them.
I loved the art, and respect the choice of the difficult topic.
Well done on completing your game!
This was a really daring submission, but overall I really liked it. it took me quite some time to understand what was happening (maybe by design?) but I can see that a lot of work went in to this. good job
THIS BITCH IS CRAZY 10/10 Only LD game I've ever been able to play with a controller. Really cool.
@simex Thank you so much! Yeah, it took really a lot of work and we're kind of exausted, but we are so proud!
@raphiell I'm glad you liked the art, and yes, maybe it would have been better if the loading screen would have been last longer, the gif would have had a better place xD
@zhohan HAHAHA THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN!!
Damn, you guys really set the tone with this one. Its very dark. I love how you guys did the gameplay and the audio plus the storytelling was very interesting! The clues are either obvious (like kurt kobain or car sound) or very hard to spot (like the toast on the floor or the cross in the corner). Really you guys made a great game and I managed to get the happy ending which is a plus!
I really hope nobody has to go through suicide or dealing with it like Phoebe though and support is always available for anybody having negative thoughts. :slight_smile:
Although this was a serious game, I did find that among us reference in the loading screen about a dead body found so nice try to add that in haha. Also I believe I saw an Inception reference with the spinning top next to the bed so I was very happy you guys made that a thing in the dream/nightmare.
I would however kinda let the player know where the different "weapons" are as I did not know that a mirror was an overdose and I only chose it by process of elimination. Also why is the bible a weapon? I do not understand as I spotted the cross in the corner and saved Joey.
Overall, this game is very well done with a serious tone (and jokes in the loading screens) and the storytelling is great for a 3 day entry. I loved the references and enjoyed the experience a lot. Well done team, very strong entry.
@cursedsoldier thank you very much, I am really happy to read this message and I was so pleased to have joined you
@cursedsoldier Wow... just wow... I'm REALLY glad you liked this game so much that you tried to find all of the easter eggs and hints. A huge thank you!
Interesting theme and concept but I didn't really understand what clues I could find to predict the suicide attempts, so it mostly evolved into me just trying random objects sometimes working sometimes not. I've also had quite a lot of audio issues during the cutscenes that really made the game unenjoyable.
@bakemonomori I always love subtle references and easter eggs in games! Oh and I love Inception and Among Us so it helped. :smile:
The art is beautiful, the subject matter daring. Love it!
The gameplay itself... I can't get to grips with yet. I will be sure to revisit the game with a clearer mind though. Great efforts all around!
Considering making a friendly version for more age-diverse audiences? That would be a great way to get additional popularity and votes.
That was kinda hard for me to play that game because I'm very impressionable. But still, a game is good, althouh I couldn't save the boyfriend and decided the girl needs to move on. Or I'm just too dumb ^__^
Nice game! I found almost all hints for every type of death.
Damn, did not expect to be taken this way. Had mediocre expectations going in, since its a very difficult topic to portray, but it was perfectly done. Have been working with depressed people and it was very well betrayed, how it also influences their surroundings. I have been moved. Played in a working pause and had to cover up how much the story moved me. The setting is also on point. The characters feel alive, even if only drawn right from the start. Would love to say I had a great time, but I didnt, I had a very moving time and will remember this game!
The mood, audio, graphics and theme were all executed wonderfully well, but the gameplay was kind of lacking: I clicked on the bible and it showed me the scene where he is in the bathroom with the toaster, and many other times I cliked on different things and he appeared on the cross, I got very confused.
I was extremely impressed by the voice acting, it was so well made!
And I loved the reference to the Inception totem haha.
Nice job overall!
@fraxxinus Thank you very much!
Well let's say that I'm glad we portraied that well the mood and the depressive disorder, even if it's a difficult subject. I'm very happy actially that this game managed to impress this much, because this mean that we succeded on our intent.
Thank you so much for playing it, and most of all, thank you for your words
@taroleon I've seen that the cinematic audio problem sometimes happens with low performance computers... Unity gives this problem sometimes
@trexxak Thank you so much, let us know how the game is after playing again after some rest!
@peace-of-cake-games even if this theme is really hard, I don't think that we'll make a friendly version; that will mean the loss of sense of this game; Suicidal Boyfriend is meant to be heavy, so probably it will remain a content for a small audience
@dexort Haha, I'm sorry about the subject, but I hope you still liked it!
@imod Yeah! I'm so happy to hear that!
@eduardo-yukio first of all, thank you so much; this game is an investigation one, you're supposed to find clues about the death that the boy wants to inflict himself, but the ways to kill him are always present, so that you don't automatically know which one it is
There's a lot to unpack here.
I personally did not get anything out of the tone. If anything, I found it to be more dark humorous than depressing, because the timing of the suicide scenes, the way they come and go quickly, and the weird effect on the "You have been useless today" are all hitting the right beats to be a comedy game. Especially when my man Joey somehow crucifies both arms like a chad (I know it's a dream, but still).
You cannot have a dark game about suicide automatically win points for tone and capture the heart of its audience just by being a game that has heavy elements in it. Likewise the game's blurb cannot be "This is a serious game". Context is important; I know nothing about Phoebe and Joey and so their personal struggles carry no weight to me. That's more a writing thing than a game development thing, but it's important nontheless.
A game that wants a tone like this would benefit from being longer (which is obviously not within the scope of a game jam, which is why I don't think this is a good idea for a game jam game), where we get to experience Joey and Phoebe in a positive context, and grow to like them and care about them. If we're just thrust immediately into the deep end, there's no substance. And the way it ruins its own tone with jokey tips, the Kurt Kobain gag, and stuff like that makes its intentions wobble about all over the place. Is this a serious game or not?
Which is why I *do* think this is a good idea in general. The idea of learning who Joey is and trying to figure out what he is thinking based on what he has said, what he has done, and what he has left around the house is actually a great idea. It provides a lot of opportunity for subtext, and requires the player to pay attention to dialogue in the game. But as it stands, the game is too arcadey and fast paced.
The game's scale is also all over the place. Sinks are too tall, rooms are too big with too much empty space, the car is *huge*, there's no reason for there to be a stamina mechanic, and the default mouse sensitivity is way too high.
That said, I am still impressed by what you managed to achieve in Unity in such a short time. I think Unity is horrible for quick projects because of all the bells and whistles, so whenever someone is able to make a game-jam game that's more than just a single room with a single mechanic, I think you've done a good job technically-speaking. The programmer(s) should be pleased.
There's a good idea for a game in here somewhere, the execution just hasn't been great.
Loved the art and audio. Wish their was more characterization on the characters, maybe through reading a journal or something. Like a previous commentor said, felt like you should have gone either dark dark, or dark comedy. overall nice submission though
The graphics and music combine perfectly to set the mood, here.
I managed to save Joey once or twice, but if I'm honest I'm not really sure how. :sweat_smile: I couldn't work out whether the tip displayed during the loading screen is relevant for the upcoming day, or not... Did it work once by chance, or not work because of a bug? I'd recommend against showing those sorts of tips if they're randomized, simply because they're so misleading in a game like this.
Wow, good lord there's a lot of emotions in this game. The artwork is absolutely incredible, and terrifying at times. Seriously well done, and I hope all of you who made this game are doing well. Great work.
Best Game I have ever played......in this LD man.....You guys have my respect.......and the itch.io page was also well decorated....like a comic book......I would suggest try to make this game like a comic book style.....then it will look great....
this is a good idea for a game but the execution is...yeah, kinda poor taste, i mean theres literally a pixel art suicide animation as the loading screen. Nonetheless i applaud you for trying to approach such a topic, even if the execution didnt work
@blobo Thank you for playing and for the compliment! Hope you're doing great too!
@jarvisp99 THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN, we're actually thinking of remaking this, we could try!
bruh...
Maybe a little bit too far? I think it was an interesting concept, but I'm not sure running around trying to baby-proof a house is the best way to prevent suicide haha. It is a very well polished game, even if it is indeed super dark
JOEY NOOO!
@grommit ARE YOU OK?!
@blaster391 I don't think that is the best way either, that's why... hehe. But according to Phoebe works so.. it's just her way to do this
This make me freak out !
I enjoyed the game, though it was hard at the beginning (the tips didn't really help) finding hints on what the method of suicide will be this time was fun. The art looks good for the most part and the overall graphics are also good, maybe besides some font choices. Overall solid game
Wow! I'm honestly impressed, this game has such an amazing mood to it and I love the 2D cinematics. I think that the textures (eg the floor) don't really fit the style. The font is nice, and the UI looks great. In my opinion the pixel-art animation in the loading screen doesn't fit that well. Overall I think it is one of the best games of this jam and I enjoyed playing it. Great job!
I really liked the tone and art, but the clues can be a bit vague. Overall a good entry
I didn't have fun, even though I don't think I was supposed to. I didn't understand the clues. Suicide is very serious and hard to treat fairly in a jam game. I respect boldness for giving it a shot.
Played the game, i think i get what you are trying to do, but the execution of it is off. Its not really in the core mechanics though, those are fine. Its with the language used. So I don't know if you have any greater ambitions for this project post Ludum dare, but you really need to watch the wording.
There is an old saying that "brevity is the soul of wit." In English the inverse is also true: "long-windedness is the soul of tragedy." The language and dialogue here is too blunt, too sharp, and too direct. It comes across as a dark comedy. I would strongly advise reworking the dialogue and script. Be more circumspect, and LESS willing to engage with the subject material. More euphemisms and unspoken context, and less "You are useless today."
Best of luck with your future projects.
Had fun playing this game even though I wasn't sure at the beginning.
Like I said on stream you could handle the RNG so you don't get the same puzzle over and over again.
Overall, love the visuals, the mood, the music and the gameplay.
Solid entry.
Your game was played on my stream ( https://www.twitch.tv/ursagames/videos ) on 10/12. Thank you for sharing your game with us! You can find the timestamp of when your game was played here: https://tinyurl.com/yy4oycvv
I LOVED THIS GAME!
Pretty textures you got there, very creative, thanks for adding cutscenes, Good ending, good audio design, music and voice acting, good job on the font, too. Well done :thumbsup:
loved the cut scenes!!, game wise did not understand what to do exacly,i died twice not sure why, overll nice job!!!
I'm back :D Your game was one of the first ones I played this ld, and with the deadline just ending, I was simply too tired to understand. My apologies!
I gave it a second chance now and actually understood what I was supposed to do! I do feel though that more hints could be a bit more obvious. The bottle of wine or the toast on the ground are juuust the right level of "easy to miss" in my opinion.
I corrected my ratings to the positive. Thank you for this very unique game!
I just got around to checking your fixed Linux build. Sorry it took me so long. Unfortunately, the cinematics and success/failure screens still didn't show up. I have no idea why this might be. I also tried running the Windows build through Proton, but it just crashed. So sorry I wasn't able to experience this game the way it was meant to be. I did see some gameplay on other people's streams though, and I really liked the way you portrayed the topic, and the overall quality. Great entry!