michael-faragher 2021-10-04 21:03
Certainly interesting. Quite attractive. The ear falling on my computer was really, really slow. Don't know if that's as intended.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD49 → The Blue Bedroom
By splitpainter
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 182 | 3.98 | 52 | |
| Fun | 1021 | 3.17 | 52 | |
| Innovation | 328 | 3.69 | 51 | |
| Theme | 198 | 4.13 | 52 | |
| Graphics | 283 | 4.14 | 51 | |
| Audio | 315 | 3.72 | 51 | |
| Mood | 36 | 4.37 | 52 |
Certainly interesting. Quite attractive. The ear falling on my computer was really, really slow. Don't know if that's as intended.
@michael-faragher thank you! It’s 20 seconds of falloff, since it’s the last main action and real drama.
Amazing concept for a game! It was a pleasant experience to read all those letters, that I probably would never encountered otherwise. Thank you!
Hi! I really liked this! I love Van Gogh and you found a good interactive way to show some things out of his life and art - I particularly liked the bits where you had "paintings within paintings", showing the ones with details of landscapes and interiors - really drives home the point that the artist was in that environment for a while and drew it at different scales. Music matched very well too.
Some bits of constructive feedback: scrolling was way too fast for me with the touchpad, the text just flew to the end; I had to scroll by holding the bar on the right. Also, I wasn't quite sure about the ending - either there wasn't a real sense of conclusion of the game, or maybe I didn't find a way to progress?
In any case I enjoyed this a lot :)
Utterly well done. Oozes with flair and style. Well put together.
I found it really cool, congrats!
I really enjoyed this. The music was perfect, too. It's very different. I, too, had a bit of an issue with fast scrolling, but it was doable. Thank you for making this lovely game!
@sasha-v thank you! Unfortunately I don't have control over the scroll, since it's a component from Godot itself. But I'll try to adjust that in a post-jam version :)
As for the ending, I agree with you. There were 2 more rooms and 4 more letters to fit, but then I didn't have the time :sweat_smile: .
@minidavid @dix @bevp @zimny11 thanks for your feedback! If you want to see more about Van Gogh Letters, there's a website with his 800 letters http://vangoghletters.org/vg
Really well made! Great entry!
Great idea for a visual novel style game, the visuals and music were wonderful. I hadn't read van Gogh's letters so I wasn't familiar with them, they were insightful to read though I wish there were more of them. Great game.
Great story game. I loved the art!
It's outstading little point-and-click game, which not only tells the story of Vincent Van Goth, but also uses his paintings for the art. It's small and clever story game, well done.
Hey matey, sorry for the wreck on the stream, I didn't realise the writing was actual letters sent by Van Gogh, so my criticism on the language definitely was not helpful. But I did play it again after, and I'm definitely glad I took the time to read it myself. You've done a great job curating the art and letters to give us a look into Van Gogh's psyche, well done!
Here's the twitch vod in case it's helpful; https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1167974254
Love it! It gave me the vibe of an 90s interactive CD-Rom.
Great visual hunt in peck reading experience. I didn't know much about van goh. it was nice to see and read and see the pictures in pictures that were done and art as a form of expression meeting the needs of both the artist and those that view such works. :-)
An interesting way to tell part of the story of a well known artist. I picked up the razor, knowing what was coming, I just thought "oh no".
Between the letters it was fun to try to find all the paintings hidden. Starry Night was a nice addition towards the end.
This is a really thoughtful tribute to Van Gogh. The “you found x of 14 secrets” at the end was a nice reminder to go back through and reflect on everything again in addition to finding the paintings I had missed.
Very pretty game, love the concept!
This game is realy awesome, I love it! Good work!
I remember reading your posts after the jam started. Today I thought, 'hmm, wonder how that Gogh game is doing' and boom, there it was in the games list. Naturally, I had to try it. Though I'm not a huge fan of art, I do appreciate art games, and this one is top notch. The serene atmosphere, somehow nostalgic feeling, and yet a little sad and frightening at the same time. It was like playing that Cube Escape game based on Gogh (Cube Escape : Arles I think), but much calmer and less of the scare factor. I also really liked the painting 'secrets' in the game. Nice job!
Very interesting game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 49 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://youtu.be/jL-Xn4X6IAQ
Very unique and interesting story game, the different pictures and the scenes fit so seamlessly well together, a well worth story game and a historically interesting too!
I love this concept and interpretation, very informative and visually appealing. 11/10
I love your interpretation, it turned out even educative I'd say and looking on Vincent's paintings is, of course, always pleasant. Outstanding expirience
This looks extremely cool but I'm not gonna play your game when you literally haven't played anyone else's -- and it's clear you had the time to try at least one since you wrote that long retrospective. Ping me if you can rate 5 games and I'll come back and give it a go.
The game is quite moody and fun. It takes you through the whole story of Van Gogh, although it's not perfect. Point and click aspect is pretty much just clicking forward until the end. Although I didn't want to read the letters the ending got me intrigued. I already know the live story of the artist, but it was fun seeing it interpreted by someone else
Very interesting take on the theme, I enjoyed this game!
Very interesting idea that connects very well to the unstable theme and that also teaches a bit of art history. Well done :smile:!
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll go through one by one, including going through your games in the weekend.
I've watched Loving Vincent back when it came out and despite it being very beautiful, it was a bit slow/long. Telling the story of Van Gogh through an interactive medium was a really great idea and it fits the theme of the jam so well. Also I liked how you managed to blend in some of his paintings into the bigger ones. Well done!
It is an interesting experience :smile: I would suggest to change the font of the text in the letters as it is too computerized, I would have loved the font you have for the "The end" and the secrets. And I'm not sure if I should vote on the graphics category as the paintings are from him :sweat_smile: I don't see it clearly specified in the description, but have you done the paintings' replicas or just the animations?
I just let another comment that art style is stunning! Really great job!
@justcamh hey no worries! Thanks for checking it afterward and for letting me know!
Beautifully done! Love to see more historical games like this one.
@laurari thanks for the feedback! Answering:
1. **Fonts:** do you mean the font in the letters text or the UI? 2. **Graphics:** you are right that the paintings are all from Van Gogh, **but still, working on the graphics took me around 7 hours**, because I had to choose the right paintings, I sliced the bedroom, I animated the windows, animated the ear cutting breakdown, added a broken mirror, added the mirror frame and the reflected bedroom, animated the skies, added overlay paintings, removed the background from 5 Van Gogh portraits, painted the ear cut and the blood and more. So **as you can see, I had to work a LOT on the graphics**!
Ah I just remembered another one: do you know the Razor on the table? It seems as part of the painting, but it's actually a photo from Amazon, so I painted it over to match Van Gogh's style :smile:
Great job putting together Van Gogh's artworks and letters into a coherent interactive documentary! I like your style.
Such a cool concept and choice for this theme and a game in general. The atmosphere was incredible and the dramatic build to the end was one of the best parts. Great job!
that was really good :) I love reading about Van Gogh or other famous painters, and Van Gogh's story especially is very unique considering how he lived his life without fame to the very end. It's so refreshing to see a historical entry amidst many fictional ones in LD! it felt like an interactive art exhibit. the scare at the end with the blurred face was very powerful. thanks for teaching me a bit about history while also showing me so many of Gogh's beautiful works.
Amazing game, really well done, and the concept is perfect. I think it should be longer, if you ever think about improving it. Loved the idea of secret items to be explored, and how you managed to choose the letters to direct your narrative!
@splitpainter thanks for the answer!! I understood now what you added graphically, already voted the category then :smile:
About the font, I was talking about the font in the letters yes, I really like the UI font at the end, and I think it would be cool if this was the font everywhere.
But again, nice job :smile:
@not-as-artistic Thank you! And I'll check "Cube Escape : Arles", never heard of it before.
> I picked up the razor, knowing what was coming, I just thought “oh no”.
@jammygunns heheh :)
@jupiter-hadley thanks for the video!
@kromeboy _It gave me the vibe of an 90s interactive CD-Rom_ - oh that's true! Now that you mention it, I can't think of anything else. My game is definitely an interactive CD-Rom.
Maybe you like Van Gogh, I'm not suuure. More seriously, as usual, the end result only contains a fraction of what you, creator, know. Simple and straight-forward.
Nice point and click. I love this idea of art game: when you click it reveals another painting. (Van Gogh's are adapted since he painted objects.)
Unfortunately, the font of the letters (Times New Roman...) is too gaudy. At the same time I think this is what gives the old CD-Rom vibe, and it can be charming but in a cheesy way (and it's a cliché of educational games). You have to be in the mood of reading to read.
It may be excessive nitpicking, but I think it would have been great to not have plain text for the letters, since it's an important part. You already used bold, maybe you could have various colours and fonts to transcribe the mood (and some word motions but maybe it's too much). But it's true it's (historically) safer to keep the text as it is, because adding things might go too far in interpretation.
The peaceful music got stuck in my head.
So it's a sober game but it's nice, and its simplicity avoids possible bugs. Went straight to the subject.
Your game is SO beautiful - for the art, of course, but also how you put everything together. Sound effects give a nice touch. And I learned something, also - I didn't know any of the story, just the "cut his ear" quick fact.
I can even imagine your novel being used by art teachers to engage teenagers in class, for instance. Have you thought of that?
Anyway, congratulations on your entry. Great theme ~~choice~~ interpretation and execution. I'm glad I came across your post and got to read your novel today :relaxed:
@aaln I never thought Times New Roman would appear like that. In the end you are right that it creates the appeal of an old CD-Rom. I chose Times New Roman on purpose because it's a serif font, good for readability of long text. I'll see if I can find another one that reads well.
> maybe you could have various colours and fonts to transcribe the mood
Unfortunately that would take way more time during the jam and maybe it could even make it harder to read? That's my impression. It seems normal, italic and bold are enoough, no?
Thanks for the detailed feedback!
@mirianbr thank you for the very kind feedback!
> used by art teachers to engage teenagers in class, for instance. Have you thought of that?
Yes! I actually really want that to happen. I contacted the Van Gogh Museum, but their process of selecting external media is via a crowded weird Facebook group and my post was quickly lost between many non-sense posts.