Abyss - A Journey Deeper

2021-04-27 09:04

Interesting Game, I am still not sure if I understood the story though ^^' xD I think I got some Ideas of how different parts are connected but I am not really sure.

Feedback on the different Levels:

Level 1

My favourite level Gameplay wise. The frogfish is a good guide on where to go and you can calmly explore around you. The turning speed is way to low. If you make an error in navigation or explore it can be really annoying to get back on the path. I also would recommend at least hints on how to move (always expect the dumbest people) and maybe implement a way to move with your mouse.

Level 2

I am not sure if its intended for the player to do the level 2 times and I am not sure if I played it in the right way (Hiding behind the girl so the messages hit her instead of you... which then kill her) ^^' I like the slowdown when you die! Took me 2/3 tries to get how to play the level but then it was easy ^^

Level 3

Hiding behind the fire truck gets pretty easy after 1/2 tries. I am not sure what the message should be (same as with Level 2). Is it exploring ones "Abyss" and reliving the Past? But why am I a black entity then? And am I the brother of the little girl at the start? Or is it something else? If the text following you should be something like social pressure I think that maybe it should have been small sentences intended to "hurt" the player and not a random message.

Level 4 & 5

I don't really have much to say about those two levels. The same applies for level 4 as for level 3. For level 5 I am not sure who the women should represent. Is it the girl that grew up? Is it the stepmom that now owns a lot of money since her husband crashed?

Level 6

I like how you explore the last memories of your child(?) as this fish swimming through darkness and how you are greeted by something more beautiful and probably stronger then you at the end. It just throws a lot more questions on who I really am and what this story is trying to represent xD ^^'

Conclusion

I like how you go through these levels and how the movement and tasks differ from level to level. I still think the story you want to show is not clear enough. I am not sure who I am in the end. Am I the man from the Menu Screen going through his memories, or am I someone completely else?

Generally still a good first game and I hope you could take something away from my little comment ^^

Bugs:

- Move sound plays multiple times when pressing two directions at once (Never mind, seemed to be my Browser)

Level1

- When u fly into the roof you can't get away from it anymore (you're stuck on the x axis since you can't turn) - When you already entered the door before it opens you have to swim a big circle to get back to it (Just check if he is in the door or not)

Ps: In the future, give a possibility to skip the credits or speed them up. Especially if you miss click in the Main Menu and want to get back to play the game.

lelulagames 2021-04-27 23:17

Adding some basics like how to play would be good. It took me a minute to figure out how to move, and once I did I realized I needed to follow the angler fish. The second level was a bit dark, but easy enough. The slow controls and imprecise movements did not make me want to keep playing though.

kr4ft3r 2021-04-28 00:31

Nice artwork, quite some transfer of consciousness going on there.

I had to look deep into myself to decide if there is sound in this game or I'm just imagining to hear faint whispers of it. Then I turned the system volume all the way up, and the sound was real. I learned to trust my instincts.

hugimugi7 2021-04-30 22:29

First of all you should all play and rate others games, because that way your game will be shown to more people and you will reach 20 ratings which will let you have your results. You should also add description of the game and thumbnail etc. The game was ok, didn't know what was happening at first but then realized the story unfolding. It was clear that you wanted to give an emotional experience, but the unclarity of the controls, gameplay and story events hindered the impact. Good job on finishing your first LD game though! :grin:

tomtomgome 2021-05-05 20:26

Well, that was a disturbing experience :D very different from what I played to far... And I found a bug and got stuck to the fish level I think :thinking:

bobafett89 2021-05-06 08:41

Nice little game, but moving was kinda slow.

chillen 2021-05-06 19:58

I'm a big fan of vignette games that try to explain some personal things through mechanics, and this is a pretty neat move toward that. I think one general improvement to focus on going forward is to make sure to provide the player with some feedback on what's working and what's not; for example, in the second level I felt like I was randomly being reset, I didn't know if colliding with the yells was slowing me or if it was a performance dip, I made it to the bed but then it reset me, but not at the start, and I was pretty confused. It also took me a while to sort out movement because the description says WASD but I had to arrow keys.

Lots of breadth in the game! Impressive amounts of stuff for a first LD, I'd just suggest spending some more upfront time in the future on making sure the basic interaction (movement) works well and the feedback keeps the player in the loop (I took X action, I know it was good/bad, I know what changed about the world/my character). Good stuff though!

sigill 2021-05-06 20:52

First of all: the credits mention sound effects, but i didn't get any sound while playing this. That said, to be honest I'm not sure what to think of the story you're trying to tell. It feels a bit too abstract for me, and the different art styles (smooth, vector-like images combined with pixel(ated) art, and art of varying quality) distracted me a lot from the message you are trying to convey. I do appreciate projects like this one that try to tell and explore the inner thoughts and memories/traumas and I do admire you for attempting to do so during a game jam. This particular game just didn't really work for me unfortunately. Still, congratulations on your LD48 entry!

jkoftekian 2021-05-08 19:22

I loved the scrolling credits, they really fit the theme nicely! Thought the movement was slow, the storytelling was still effective and gave me enough time to let things play out/sink in. Like someone said before me, I liked the transfer of consciousness at play! It reminded me of some of Julio Cortazar's short stories like "Axolotl or "The Night Face Up". If you had any plans to improve the game, I would suggest updating the movement controls for the diving scene, and also make the clipping around objects a bit smaller so that you can partially walk behind objects in a way that creates the illusion of depth. Overall, I thought the slow movement was kinda frustrating at times, but it still helped get the story across, so it was okay regardless