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Nightwaker
Nightwaker
By bottled-up-dark-peace, Lexumpy, Cara, GRAMSINATOR, Benjamin Tibbetts, GargyGuy, daelon and Kora
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 377 | 3.77 | 141 | |
| Fun | 840 | 3.24 | 141 | |
| Innovation | 149 | 3.88 | 141 | |
| Theme | 437 | 3.87 | 141 | |
| Graphics | 253 | 4.19 | 141 | |
| Audio | 229 | 3.85 | 140 | |
| Mood | 86 | 4.21 | 141 | |
Comments
Hey! I remember you from Land of the Unskilled back from the Wowie jam. Nice job! How was it working with a big team? I imagine in some ways it's harder to coordinate with so many people in a short time. I loved the atmosphere in this. What made you decide to use typing as the main mechanic? I think it's interesting though the constant tapping of J and L hurt my fingers and made it hard to concentrate on reading the story lines too. Brilliant art and sound especially. Way to go!
@daniel-foutz Thank you ! Well, from the moment we chose to make a game about not sleeping, we thought about pressing one button for each eye, then we tried to find more mechanics to keep the hands busy and making the eye managing more difficult. The goal was to simulate someone who tries not to sleep : if you let your guard down, you'll fall asleep immediatly. Also, the mechanics and the world building are all references to the stages of insomnia and rare sleeping conditions, like lethargical encéphalite that immobilises you and turns your skin grey, like a statue.
Teamwork was very hard at the beginning, because we don't know that much about each other's artistic domain, but once we got the hang of it, it turned up to be pretty enjoyable :D
perion
2022-04-05 08:57
This was awesome! Very atmospheric, story rich and emotional. I really really enjoyed it! And inspired from games like Limbo I guess? :D
@perion thank you ! Yes, at the beginning it was more inspired by Hollow Knight but it evolved into being Limbo inspired.
noskro
2022-04-05 09:55
Cool game. The visuals are amazing. I am not a big fan of typing games, but the atmosphere was so great that I kept on playing and playing.
Edit: Also for me the first web link wouldn't work (wouldn't take any key inputs), but the second backup link worked just fine
Really love the graphics. The mood works perfectly well and the gameplay is original. It's hard but in the good way. Would love to have a full game with this DA !
arhair
2022-04-05 10:01
Great mood and nice concept. The story seems very promising. I might want to draw your attention on your choice of keys tho as I started to feel tendon pains due to spamming J and L, otherwise it's great. :)
Graphics and mood were absolutely on point, I laughed at the monsters that had SLAY on them. Not too sure about the mix of keeping eyes open mechanic alongside the typing one and moving around, felt like a lot at once, but that's just me. The style reminded me a bit of limbo, animations and movement were on point.
Great! Visual, Sound, GamePlay - very nice! But game has lags when loading next scene, may be u can use async load for fix that
@noskro thank you, it's a Itch.io issue. It loses focus when you fullscreen. You just have to click on the game again and it works. I put a warning now.
@fruit-du-dragbane thank you !
@arhair thank you yes, keybinding was a difficult choice, that's why we provided custom keybinding in the options.
@osh-studio thank you ! Yes, the core mech of keeping eyes open was to simulate someone trying not to fall asleep : if you let your guard down, you'll fall asleep right away.
maadln
2022-04-05 10:22
I love the visuals and the overall atmosphere of the game! I just think that the mechanic of having to press J+L constantly makes concentrating on the other actions very difficult but appart from that, it's a very interesting concept.
@izhvaryag thank you ! Yes, as a pixel artist, I've never worked with sprites that have a file size so big so I was caught out guard by that. I hope there wasn't too much in-game lag though.
@maadln thank you ! Yeah, that was kinda the goal, we tried to simulate the stages of insomnia. I understand your opinion though.
The game is cool and moody, but I cant play because of freezes and technical issues =( Sorry! Maybe there is non-html5 version?
@niklas-zhaga there is a windows version, we can export it later for other platforms if you don't have windows. Can you tell me where it lags ? Noone got much issues with that until now.
heho
2022-04-05 11:17
a really good looking game. The graphics are well done, great execution. would have loved to see a greater deviation from known paths, but you sure know how to deliver a polished fun game.
@heho thank you ! Do you mean deviation, like, litteraly having a less linear game or deviation like more innovative ?
heho
2022-04-05 11:37
@bottled-up-dark-peace a little more innovativeness one can clearly see that you know what you are doing in every regard. The game just works. This is why I think you could have been a little more daring with the concepts you developed, because you clearly have the skill to do so.
Brilliant entry - I liked the idea, the execution, the mood (especially this), the controls - the idea with input while trying to remember the eyes. Good job :thumbsup_tone1:
seng
2022-04-05 12:07
The great visuals and soundtrack emphasize the gloomy mood. Also I like the idea of having to type to solve things. Good Game!
@purpledartfrog @seng thank you both !
brandsma
2022-04-05 13:19
Really nicely done. Loved the atmosphere, absolutely chilling. At first I thought the constant pressing of J and L is a bit tedious, but it fits in nicely with a typing game and the stress of things coming at you.
@brandsma thank you ! It was a risky gameplay choice for sure, I'm glad you appreciated it.
The game was so cool with the typing but with the eyes and typing was fun finished first level but I think you should say that you walk with a and d but you need to click j and l aswell
webox
2022-04-05 13:57
This is a very novel game!! It's a cool idea but I struggled a bit with the controllers, It's part of innovating tho. For some reason writing "Slay" wasn't really responsived from time to time and it kind of failed. The art is really cool. Congrants on your game!!
@webox @meritcoding thank you both !
I think this is the game that touched me the most so far, this jam had several games with sensitive themes, the art and music of this one, and the gameplay with the eyes made everything deeper.
Incredible how you set up the world in so little game time, and few words.
About the gameplay, despite my two fingers hurting to keep my eyes open (which I thought was great, I felt the pain of the character), the typing mechanics fit like a glove.
I am unfortunately facing a bug at the end, I sent you a message so as not to spoil the experience of other players.
@very-bad-bunny-studio thank you !! It's not a bug but we'll see what we can do to fix it. :)
@bottled-up-dark-peace Thank you for the explanation! It worked here! Congratulations!
Well done. Compelling story. Excellent execution. Only two issues bothered me: you can reach a checkpoint and then "lose" it and have to re-earn it. Several times I killed something to discover that it was already too late. So, it was hard to know whether you had been "fast enough"... maybe a bit more feedback at the key moment? Also, is there more than one ending? Seems like it, but I couldn't figure it out.
A really cool moody game, fun mechanics and incredibly good art, nothing bad to say
edusilva
2022-04-05 14:41
love this game, the ambience is amazing and it really makes you feel as tired as the character. it's very creative and I loved every second. congrats!
@comicsans thank you ! I wasn't aware of this bug, thx for reporting. No, if you got to the house and then got the credits, then you got the end, there's only one.
@zsharpfire @edusilva thank you both !
Great idea. Core gameplay is very unusual. Keep open eyes by means J and K, and type some words - it's very coool feelings. Realy. Obviously - very beautiful art and deep story
@kremlebot nice thank you ! Did you get to the end ? I see a lot of comments telling me the story if cool but I always wonder if my games are not too hard.
Pretty neat game overall! Really cool for a jam game! I'd be interested to see a more fleshed out version of this with the core mechanic expanded upon in some ways, the puzzle solving with stuff like PUSH was really cool .
martinek
2022-04-05 15:15
I had a blast! Everything hit the spot for me! Amazing.
@trensient @martinek thank you both !
sodaro
2022-04-05 15:34
Really cool looking game! I wish the timer for j / k was more forgiving and obvious, I had to keep spamming it because it felt like as soon as I didn't I died :( (which I understand is probably the point but my hand started hurting a bit haha) Cool entry though, impressed that you were able to synchronize 9 people and make something like this over a weekend :smile:
@sodaro yo thank you ! I'm impressed too tbh, considering for most of them we never worked together. Can you tell me what you mean by "wish the timer for j / k was more obvious" ?
sodaro
2022-04-05 16:22
@bottled-up-dark-peace oh yes sorry! I meant how frequently you had to press the keys to keep your eyes open, as when enemies appear I looked at them and not the eyes in the higher up on the screen :sweat_smile: So maybe a glow around the player character or something like that :D Hope that cleared up what I meant!
@sodaro I see, thx for the feedback, it makes sense.
deakcor
2022-04-05 16:23
I really enjoyed the experience, the atmosphere and the style choice.
The typing gameplay is also really interesting, I like the way you begin to use it for puzzles. I may have some ideas to improve it, we could use a key (or the mouse so we could select who we focus, like a icon on selectable object then it reveals) to enter in typing mode so could be slowed down for like max 2s (unless we type a good word) with a little cooldown after so it could be more challenging.
For negative points there is just a strange background scrolling (should go slower than first plan for me), and the music which freeze on html5 when changing scene (I think the music must be stopped globally just before changing scene), but yes it's really few things, really nice job !
@deakcor thank you for the feedback. i'm note sure about using the mouse but it's true that the typing targeting is not, let's say, optimised.
tieran
2022-04-05 16:38
Such a cool game and concept, its a shame I make so many typos when typing. Maybe this game will help with that?!
Not sure if its just me being a bad typer but I feel the blink timer can be increased as I did struggle to fight multiple monster at once and also keep my eyes open.
I love the backgrounds and music, really adds to the mood of the game!
Overall its an amazing game, good job to all the people involved!
@tieran thank you ! I'm actually not a good typer (in english at least) myself XD
chewiecb
2022-04-05 16:51
Excellent creepy mood and story, loved the music and the environment art. Keeping the eyes open was a fun mechanic, felt easy until an enemy appeared then everything felt frantic. Great work!
@chewiecb thank you ! I'm glad you liked it.
angiemon
2022-04-05 16:58
This looks amazing! Sadly the WebGL Build lags a lot for me (maybe my Internet is too crappy right now?) and the Winodws Build seems to be the Web Build? Hmmmm. Am I mistaken?
Would love to try this :))
@angiemon you are actually right :O thx for pointing that out ! The .exe file was actually hidden, I think it's the good one (tho it's my partner who did the upload and he's not here rn), tell me if it works.
Sorry for the trouble, yes the web version can lag for some people.
mira
2022-04-05 19:54
nice story, lovely art style. i really enjoyd game. Was dificult type text with eyes open, but i am sure it was the funny part. never play game like this. well done.
@mira thank you !
mrjeremy
2022-04-05 20:37
Quite a unique concept! The controls were a little hard to get used to at first but once you get the hang of it things are really enjoyable. I love your visuals, thats prolly the best part of the game to me. Reminds me of limbo and others like that. Great Job!
foxwater
2022-04-05 20:38
Really enjoyed this! I've not seen this sort of typing game before and found it to be a really fun test of my coordination. The art and music pair really well together to create a proper mood and the NPC/enemy design and dialogue only enhanced that.
@mrjeremy @foxwater thank you both !
this game is pretty well structured, the visuals are cool as well. I like the idea of a plague where you're not allowed to sleep it really sounds like a cool consept for a novel. anyway switching from one scene to another in the web bulid is a bit laggy and has caused my browser to crash once for some reason. but I did enjoy the gameplay nevetheless
failuer
2022-04-05 20:49
Interesting concept - Limbo meets Typing of the Dead. Quite satisfying! Visuals are absolutely gorgeous, obviously some great talent on the team. Sound and storytelling was also impressive, adding to the eerie theme.
The only major gripe is the lack of feedback when dying - it would've been nice with a visual and/or sound effect.
Bravo, thanks to everyone involved in making this. Well done!
Woah! I just realized that a lot of people worked on this game, how did you manage to not get in each others way ? I thought that once your team is bigger than 2 or 3 it becomes hard to manage.
filgru
2022-04-05 20:51
Very nice idea for the game! Amazing atmosphere. While I was playing it I was super sleepy myself, but the game kept me awake... Now I'm not sure am I going to be able to fall asleep now:) I keep pressing J and L in my head! Super idea with typing some words from time to time. What I would try to fix is definitely background parallax and maybe I would add some indication that you've died, some animation+sound. But other then that, Great work!:)
@filgru @failuer thank you both ! Yes, there's a bunch of things I'd have liked to polish, but when it gets too close to the submission jour, I panic and fear that any changes can break the game XD
lazy-fox
2022-04-05 21:01
Wow, it seems like i've been playing this game for the past three days xD, and now i actually feel like a statue :) Great concept, I rarely see type-based games so it felt really fresh to me. Well done.
Cool game, with great mood, awesome graphics and interesting story ! The world is really original, and the narration is really good at unravelling it slowly. That was really cool ! The gameplay is also pretty original, but I found it a bit annoying to have to spam two keys during the whole game. It makes the typing game more challenging, and the idea of having to keep both eyes open is great, it's just the spamming that is not fun. It gave me an idea though, maybe by using the mouse instead of the keyboard for that, by dragging the eyelid upward, it could be a bit more fun to interact ? Anyways, that's awesome work !
@0x-void-x0 I generally work alone, so my personnal challenge for this jam was to create the biggest team possible. I basically messaged every person looking for a team. XD it was pretty hard to manage at the beginning and we still got a lot of communication issues but in the end it worked out. Yeah, when you're a lot, you don't work as fast because there's constantly someone showing their progress or asking a question.
Thank you for the feedback ! The web version is always slower than the.exe.
@lazy-fox great, thx ! Creating a link between the player and the character was my goal !
@guilloteam thank you for the feedback !
mhorth
2022-04-05 22:21
Man this is cool, what a great mood! Does the game end at the PUSH envelope? I kept typing push there but it seemed unresponsive.
@mhorth oh no, you're the 2nd to tell me that. Design error I guess. You have to go right and PUSH the statue to continue. Then there's one level left and the finale.
mhorth
2022-04-05 23:15
Ahh yep, now I got to see the ending! Very cool storytelling. Other than that, I would just echo what others have said. Spamming J and L felt like it was forced into the game as just an extra mechanic that wasn't really cohesive with the rest of it.
But that was really the only downside, other than that I really enjoyed it!
Edit: I wouldn’t say a design error, more just an unfortunate side effect due to many other games we’ll see in the jam don’t have an ending. At least for me, when I get into a situation like that, I have to wonder if there’s more or if it that was it. I guessed wrong in this case. Maybe a future patch could have a text pop up that says “nothing to push”, so players will know that their input was registered and they’re doing something wrong?
jkyd
2022-04-06 00:31
Awesome mood and art! Having to type out the words was a cool design choice, but I found it conflicted a little bit with having to spam J and L throughout the whole game. I guess that's part of the challenge! I could see the 'J+L/keeping your eyes open' portion replaced with having to type out sleep-related words at random intervals (and made less frequent!). Really solid entry!
Exceptional art! Except for when it crashed lol.
It crashed for me a few times, but I loved it! Audio and visuals worked so well together and a very innovative entry. Nice work!
@mhorth @jkyd thx for the feedback
@waysneighborgo2 @jamesolivermusic the assets are pretty big, but the .exe version shouldn't have problems with that.
@mhorth hey, I uploaded a version with the cheat menu so you can wrap after the beach to see the ending. Press + once you typed START and you can wrap to Forest to continue or to House to see the end ! Sorry for the disagrement.
Wow! The mood was fantastic, with great art and audio. I kind of wish that the you didn't have to press J/L quite as often - I would have been able to enjoy the whole experience a bit more then. Great game!
@fredrik-rosell thx for the feedback !
denhette
2022-04-06 08:33
I got stuck on the 'OPEN' near the end of the second level because my inputs didn't trigger the word to be registered. I tried multiple times. I loved the mood, the sound effects and the graphics! Really interesting take on a typing game, I'm definitely keeping this around to try again when I have some more time on my hands.
Also, that first 'KILL' took me by surprise :p great job!
cakts
2022-04-06 08:33
Really nice mood and narrative, however I feel like all spamming J and L did for the game was hurt my fingers lol. Maybe if instead of J and L you had to type "wake up" or "keep going" or something similar, as it felt like the game had two mechanics that fought each other, and I also think that you could remove the need to manually move completely, as the only time I had to move left was to read the letter, but I feel like I could have worked out the word without it. This could let you focus on just the typing, having to multitask between typing "wake up" and "slay" etc sounds more fun than multitasking holding D, spamming J and L and typing the words. Congrats to this very large team of people however, great entry! :smile:
A limbo-like typing game?? One of the most original concepts I've seen this jam, and the execution is superb! The aesthetic is very well done, music and sound design are also great, very good atmosphere, not to mention the storytelling. I think the mechanic of keeping your eyes open is interesting, thought it was a nice touch that the game can be played with your fingers on the home row. It could use some technical polish but that's it really. Excellent work here!!
@denhette thx for the feedback, you probably were'nt close enough to the gate to open it, if you want to see the rest (if KILL surprised you, wait to see the end), you can open the cheat wrap menu with +, once you typed START.
@oliver-richmeier @cakts thanks for the feedback !
Very good game, the mood is unique and a great achievement. I had one little crash in the browser version while switching screens, but the overall experience is great. Not only is the graphic style beautiful, you also managed to transport emotions and that is not easy to do in such a short time. It felt like playing a mixture of some games I really enjoyed in the past combined with some new, unique vibes. Thanks for sharing that gem with us! :-)
denhette
2022-04-06 08:47
@bottled-up-dark-peace Ah yeah, I've downloaded the Windows version for later today! I'll give it another shot :) liked what I saw though, a lot of work clearly went into this!
@wizard-frog thank you !
I have no idea what I'm supposed to do except keeping the eyes open... Maybe a bug prevented me to see something? Or I'm just not used to the genre? Playing the web version on a mac with retina display, if that helps.
@clement-sparrow Well, it's pretty straightforward, you can move with A/D and go right and... I mean I don't really know what I'm supposed to say ^^'. You can read the game's page if it's not clear, also the only bug I know is an Itch bug that stop from processing you keyboard when you make it fullscreen.
jorbits
2022-04-06 09:04
I like the mood of the game (everything is dark), it fits the idea of trying not to fall asleep. Great entry. And the fighting against enemies reminded me of a similar Jam game I once played, where you had to use a typewriter to shoot, sadly I forgot how it was called.
@bottled-up-dark-peace Is it supposed to look like that?
Nightwalk.png
If I move to the right, the little white dots (my avatar?) disappear at some point and reappear from the left.
m0dsat
2022-04-06 09:23
Thanks for the game. I liked the atmosphere in particular (music and graphics go nicely together), but also the story. The mechanic og keeping eyes open while fighting was cool. Hell, even starting to type this feedback after playing, I am worried about eyes closing :sweat_smile: The graphics were cute and well put together. The controls feel a little clunky and a bit more work could be put to the technical side (wierd jitteriness when loading scenes, falling through objects sometimes). Solid entry.
Great atmosphere and unique mechanics of keeping the character awake.
@clement-sparrow it doesn't seem normal, where exactly is this ? Did you use the cheat menu ?
Considering your precedent comment, I guess you open the game and it's like that ?? Nobody got that and there's no reason for this to happen... Are you on web or windows version ?
Wow! Great game. Storytelling is awesome. I have never played games with such type of mechanic before. Pleasant! Marvellous work!
@bottled-up-dark-peace: web, start of the game, no cheat, firefox on mac with retina display.
kylazaur
2022-04-06 11:43
Love this type of stuff like the "Bird box" and "The Silence" movies where if you do X, you ded ahah (I need to watch more of those types of movies tbh)
Wasn't the biggest fan of the "keeping your eyes open" mechanic, my arm started to fatigue after a while but I think I got to the end of it?
Overall great entry ^^
@gandelianna @kylazaur thank you ! @kylazaur, you got to the house ? Did you get the credits ? Tbh I was expecting a lot of people to comment on the end, so now I have no idea if people reached it or not ^^'
@clement-sparrow this is definitly not normal, it works well for everyone. If the game didn't load, it could be a browser problem but it looks like the game is loading but not the assets ? I don't even know if it's possible. I'll talk to my teammate but I don't think we can find an answer for that. I doesn't seem to be something in the game.
kylazaur
2022-04-06 12:04
I'm not sure if I got to the house? I got to the part where I had to push a couple things multiple times and ran into a gate? without any instructions or anything so I thought the game was done... didn't get any credits though :')
@kylazaur the house is right after the gate, you have to type OPEN when you're close to the gate, like the gate in the city.
Fortunatly, you can see the end if you use the cheat menu (+ button once you typed START) to wrap to the house ! (so you don't have to play the whole thing again :D)
@bottled-up-dark-peace I tried the game in Safari and Chrome. It works in Chrome, so I will be able to write a better comment finally :-) But in Safari I have the error message "Your browser does not support any of the supported WebGL versions. Please update your browser version." So I guess it's a problem with how Godot exports in WebGL…
@clement-sparrow it could be, I already played games where this was the problem. Sorry for the time loss, if you don't want to play the entirety, you can press + once you type START to wrap to the end (House)
@bottled-up-dark-peace I see now windows build, thanks =) What about lags - they appearing in the moment of level changing because of loading, I guess. This lags are not critical, but in the second level when I type "OPEN" and pass through gates, there is so freezing moment, that sound become stratching and I cannont do anything but open task managaer and reload :scream_cat:
@niklas-zhaga I see, if you have trouble, you can use the cheat menu (press + once you typed START) to skip a level. The beach is very laggy.
bosco
2022-04-06 13:02
Holy moly what an awesome game. Such an incredible concept, I think the gameplay was an amazing allegory for trying to stay awake, the bleary eyed indicators at the top were just gorgeous too. Music was incredible, forgrroud was triking, backgrounds were vivid and slightly off, dreamlike maybe. Favourite game of the jam. (Also i got really itchy at one point while playing and that made the whole staying awake experience even more vivid and impactful haha)
leom
2022-04-06 13:10
Nice one, first i think to a simple limbo glone but the eyes mechanics is creating a singular mood and a nice gaming experience. I noticed after the note about custom key binding, was awfull in not qwerty... But I had seen the cheat code andi finish the game by locking the eyes on the forest. Nice game, congrats.
kora
2022-04-06 13:10
@bosco thanks a lot for your feedback!♥
@clement-sparrow simple explanation : SAFARI SUCKS ASS
@bosco thank you ! aha you're the most detailed audio comment so i respond to you :v_tone3:
Noted, next time we will do an itchy game.
@leom wdym "locking the eyes on the forest" ? Because the ending is at the House but I'm not sure what your sentence mean.
@bosco thank you so much ! Did you get to the end at the house ? Tbh I was expecting a lot of people to comment on the end, so now I have no idea if people reached it or not ^^’
leom
2022-04-06 13:44
@bottled-up-dark-peace : I play the usual game, I just use the "+" cheat tools with the option "Pause Eyes" for the forest level (I manage to pass without that before). And of course, i reactivate them on the last level ;) I'm not that good on english sorry for the confusion ^^ [ but thoses who writes the texts on the narrative game i published are much better ;) ;) ;) ]
@leom it's ok, I'm not an english speaker either. Please tell me your thoughts about the ending ! Nobody commented on that and since I'm the story writer I wanna know people's reactions.
Very immersive, good game! Decent art and music, interesting gameplay idea and story! (But I'm not that good at typing correctly though :p)
I came across severe lagging everytime I went into another map. Maybe you should try loading the scene asynchronously? Or did you put too many unused objects in other scenes?
Also, it'd be better if I can have more checkpoints in the game, falling into the trap because of physics system for couple times is disappointing enough for me to close the game :cry:
You guys made an art. Keep going and I believe you guys will create a hit oneday!
@lighty-the-light thank you :) If you wanna see the ending, you can use the cheat menu (press + once you typed START) to wrap to the end (House)
leom
2022-04-06 14:20
@bottled-up-dark-peace It's working well, the reaveal of the pased out family, the last on alive... on many games you are supposed to let you die at the end (mine too), but it's the theme and on your game it's nicely introduced. For the game, The eyes closing could be a little slower, maybe mixed with a black/blud fade over. On this version it's complicated to get really focus on the game story by pressing continuly jljljljljjljljl, myself I finish to desactivate it... but I know what it is to make a 72h game. ;) Still, I had fun :)
@leom thank you, that's what I wanted to know. I wasn't actually sure people would close the eyes after the reveal. Once there's no option left.
The art is very pretty! I dig the Limbo aesthetic. The story was also compelling and interesting. I did find the constant pressing of j and l interesting and in line with the theme, but somewhat monotonous (which does work with the game feel), perhaps with some more juice and feel, both typing and keeping eyes open could feel really fun. I think that if you wanted to, you could totally expand this into a full game. All in all, great work, be proud!
Music and mood and aesthetic were great, but the constantly needing to keep your eyes open is kinda annoying, might have been better to be more forgiving / have longer timeouts. There were some spots where you could get stuck and fall in a hole and have no choice but to let your eyes close so you respawn.
Very creative game. I love the limbo style and the typing mechanics. There were some unpolished things like sometimes you could see the standard grey background because the camera moves too far but that's not a huge deal. I won's consider these small things in my rating as well :)
Overall great game, I love it
@finn-pickart thank you ! Yes, I fixed the camera limits but there must be some regression problem with git as it was the first time I was using it to work in sync with a teammate. I did not realised that happened.
jeenfizz
2022-04-06 17:38
Typing your action is a really great game design idea, reminding me of textual rpg days :) you should absolutely keep pushing on that concept. The eyes closing concept adds a real stress factor in already stressfull "fight" situations but it could be adjusted so that it doesn't get painful to keep smashing those keys. Overall great inspiration and great mood in that game ! Well done !
Very nice interpretation of the theme. I love typing games, so I was pleasantly suprised. The keyboard being used to keep your eyes open + move aournd + type to interact. I didn't think it would work so well, but it does. Like you have to quickly switch between these mode of operations, and type fast if you don't want to loose.
The Forest level bugged quite a bit for me : - I fell through the statue into the hole (closing your eyes reset the level fortunately) - got respawned further into the level - I would die randomly to nothing at the beginning sometimes, as I did next to the mail in the underground
Besides that I have to ask : Isn't the parallax inverted ? Some of it makes sense, some of it doesn't. Or is it just me ?
Otherwise a really cool execution. I would play a version of this with more content !
@garazbolg2 @jeenfizz thx for the feedback ! There was checkpoint issues but we couldn't reproduce them every time, so idk what is the cause. The random deaths is quiet peculiar tho, noone said that before. For the parallax, there may be an issue, I'm not sure, I don't really...uh... notice that myself. ^^'
I am amazed by how you turned a typing game into this and connected it with an actual lore!
The art and music are also fantastic, they combined create a great and unique atmosphere which is very rare in game jams!
@andrground thank you ^^
okkolobr
2022-04-06 19:59
Game was cool... but so hard with an AZERTY keyboard :'(
yorsh
2022-04-06 20:11
I love the limbo art style. It fits well the kind of gameplay of gameplay you went for. I get the idea of the JL spam, I'm not sure if I like it or not tho. I noticed some parralax effect going the wrong way in some cases, but that kinda adds to the mood in a way :)
@okkolobr that's why there is a custom keybindig option. Read the game's page. I'm not an english man, I use AZERTY too.
@yorsh thank you
okkolobr
2022-04-06 20:31
@bottled-up-dark-peace Damn, I missed the option, sorry :)
@okkolobr it's ok XD But I can always tell by the comments who didn't read the page XD
This was a really good mood! The art was amazing, the sound as well! Great job! I am also impressed how seamless everything seemed to connect together, with that I mean that if it was not said that it was made by 9 different people, I would not have suspected it in the slightest, so a good vision and great teamwork there!
I think that the typing mechanic was really nice, although I felt like the J+L for keeping the eyes open was sometimes a bit annoying when needing to type something. I can see how it was maybe meant as a challenge, but instead e.g. having to type 'awake' on less frequent intervals would maybe be more fun.
That's just a minor point though, overall a really great job from the team!
arktas
2022-04-06 21:21
Like the limbo style and closing eyes mechanics is quite good to fit the theme :) didn't manage to pass the gate near the multi push bridge. I will come bag trying to find the way and finish it myself (don't want to cheat ^^). Maybe you will find a way fix the shaking screen (and buggy music) at end of each panel (load take to long?) ? Really nice one keep coding !
@haastregt thank you !
@arktas thx ! the windows version is less laggy, that's the same for every game.
It's ok if you cheat ^^, the game is built upon what I assumed players would do, but I had no way or testing it so everything isn't clear for everyone ^^' I have no doubt you'll reach the end tho, as the gate is simply the same that the one in the city.
@garazbolg2 no parrallax isn't inverted. Its just moving so godamn fast that it feels disgusting. Especially in the city. It moves way too fast to make any sense spatially so it feels like the world is rotating.
I tried to ring the "parralax alarm" to no effect, but you can do like me and just pretend the world is spinning, it almost works.
copito
2022-04-06 22:50
Great atmosphere and visuals, typing j l all the time certainly made the typing a lot harder than it otherwise would have been and I often found myself having to look the keyboard to re-orient myself. it would have been better for me if I was spamming f and j or maybe had to type small phrases to stay awake to avoid getting RSI in my fingers I would have also loved a mechanic where you could knock monsters back a bit as you type each letter.
Annotation 2022-04-06 192837.png Of course I had to try a game that also dealt with delaying sleep and I was not disappointed (much). I enjoyed the fact that the words needed to type were pretty simple and that you had some clues for the P??? hidden about. The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to get past this gate. I tried the + for the warp but that didnt do anything for me (playing on chrome). If I missed something let me know and I will give another run at it and I will for sure pass this one to my teammates to try!
@gramsinator You are right, for the background. But the foreground is inverted. Look at the statue after the forest, it should be moving backwards.
Basically for parallax everything (every layer) should move in the same direction. It should just move slower as you go back. Your background is static, since it's so far away moving doesn't change the view point. Your player layer moves normally, then your foreground elements should move faster then the player. Of course saying it like that doesn't really help implementation because that's from the point of view of the camera, but you don't program from that. You do that in world space. In which case, your player layer is static, your background layer moves at the same speed as the camera, and your foreground layer move in the other direction.
Here how it's supposed to look like :
Capture.gif
Here is how it is in your game (exagerated) :
Capture2.gif
Got a chance to play your game! A+ on the art and storytelling. I played on webgl and ended up stuck at the same part as others are(I imagine that is the end credit sequence). My only complaints are purely bugs: sometimes I can get stuck in a pit, I shouldn't have to use a cheat menu to get out of it The death causes lag that once lasted a minute for me, and the sound doesn't stop playing between scenes so you end up with a jarring noise you can see the edges of the map, which at times ruined the immersion
But regardless the atmosphere is truly incredible, anything problematic could be fixed over the course of the jam!
In the first playthrough, I had a hard time trying to find everything because everything was all black until I got to the final level in front of the house. I couldn't figure out how to rate this game until I read some of the comments, and noticed others also had a similar problem of the graphics not showing up. Note I'm using a Mac with Firefox browser to playthrough this.
I played it through the second time using a different browser (Brave), and everything worked! The Limbo-esque art style's done brilliantly here and the concepts (gameplay-wise and storywise) are executed in a clever way.
Most of my frustrations occurred mostly on my first playthrough since everything was black, and the only things I could see were the player, and the NPCs until the final level, where everything was made visible. I did get stuck in two places: under the bridge, where the "PUSH" hint didn't show up where I interacted with the letter, and on the second-to-last level countless times to the point of near-frustration. I had to turn up the brightness in order to actually see the statues I had to push in order to proceed.
Another complaint gameplay-wise is that the delay of keeping the player's eyes open was too short, and at times, quite frustrating. One case is when I have to type "SLAY" and try to stay awake, where I end up mistyping the word since I couldn't see what I was fighting. For some reason, though, I'm a bit mixed on changing this mechanic. It integrates with the story well since I can understand the feeling of trying to stay awake for as long as possible, as I've been in that position myself sometimes. The player's probably using all of his strength to stay awake to get to the end, where he can rest forever, which fits well with the jam's theme.
Aside from that, my second playthrough's a bit better since the game's now completely visible. One aspect to mention, though, are the transitions in the audio section are a bit buggy, in that the music breaks into a jarring loop during transitions. My suggestion would be to fade out the music when the player gets to an end of the section.
The highlights, such as the keyboard-based gameplay, story, and art style, though, make this a strong contender! Great job to the team! :thumbsup:
**P.S.** I tried to use cheats to get into the house, but it didn't work. It didn't matter, though, since I realized I was already where the player wanted to be.
In the first playthrough, I had a hard time trying to find everything because everything was all black until I got to the final level in front of the house. I couldn't figure out how to rate this game until I read some of the comments, and noticed others also had a similar problem of the graphics not showing up. Note I'm using a Mac with Firefox browser to playthrough this.
I played it through the second time using a different browser (Brave), and everything worked! The Limbo-esque art style's done brilliantly here and the concepts (gameplay-wise and storywise) are executed in a clever way.
Most of my frustrations occurred mostly on my first playthrough since everything was black, and the only things I could see were the player, and the NPCs until the final level, where everything was made visible. I did get stuck in two places: under the bridge, where the "PUSH" hint didn't show up where I interacted with the letter, and on the second-to-last level countless times to the point of near-frustration. I had to turn up the brightness in order to actually see the statues I had to push in order to proceed.
Another complaint gameplay-wise is that the delay of keeping the player's eyes open was too short, and at times, quite frustrating. One case is when I have to type "SLAY" and try to stay awake. For some reason, though, I'm a bit mixed on changing this mechanic. For one thing, it seems to integrate with the story well since I can understand the feeling of trying to stay awake for as long as possible, as I've been in that position myself sometimes. The player's probably using all of his strength to stay awake to get to the end, where he can rest forever, which fits well with the jam's theme.
Aside from that, my second playthrough's a bit better since the game's now completely visible. One aspect to mention, though, are the transitions in the audio section are a bit buggy, in that the music breaks into a jarring loop during transitions. My suggestion would be to fade out the music when the player gets to an end of the section.
The highlights, such as the keyboard-based gameplay, story, and art style, though, make this a strong contender! Great job to the team! :thumbsup:
@pickyburrito49 it's the same gate as at the end of the city, you have to type OPEN
@zachary-shah I feel like most people didn't reach the end. If you haven't seen the crédits, it's not the end.
@boaromayox thank you for finding this bug, I already encountered games that wouldn't load in some browsers, I didn't know about games that would half load.
mosman
2022-04-07 10:35
Cool mechanics and nice mysterious story!
trashbag
2022-04-07 11:07
Intriguing mechanics and wonderful designs. Trying to keep your eyes open while slaying creatures is a fun challenge, though spamming it while just trying to enjoy the scenery for a moment isn't and the audio flicker everytime you die hurts the ears a bit.
@mosman @trashbag thx !
chrome_9eJvuvPCYK.png Can't unsee face here.
Interesting take. Reminds Limbo and The Final Station, with little bit of typing mechanic from games like The Typing of The Dead: Overkill. Storytelling feels influenced by style used in games like Katana Zero.
Probably I can gather some inspiration for my own game for next ludum dare, but I think I will just forget everything.
Good experience if to disable eye mechanic. It just not contribute to gameplay and gives almost nothing for pacing and immersion. SCP games do it better.
Issues: - Stuck here: chrome_8tRiPD7c1L.png It just ignores my typing.
- Seem to be eyes mechanic should keep you under pressure, intensify suspense, but it's annoying and frustrating as much as early game industry attempts in QTE.
- It's impossible to get into writing when you have to constantly smash eyes buttons. At some point I forgot eyes buttons.
- Sound issue during levels loading like in old Source games with one small fragment of sound playing over and over again.
P.S. I looking forward to see video and review on my game.
magus77
2022-04-07 12:34
i'm a sucker for minimalistic / shadowplay graphics! nice one this! Also the typing for action is fun and something different than most game, i liked that ! gave it a nice rating!
okamit
2022-04-07 12:37
Cool idea and nice concept, graphics and sound design! Made it to the end (credits), nice story! I liked the typing interactions, but I think you should remove/replace the typing to stay awake as that was only tedious and made my arm hurt, and made it hard to focus on the story. Maybe a timer and more time could work, and something else you need to do to stay awake.
Other than that, nice experience, good work!
@morricore thank you. For the part where you're stuck, well, you'6the only one XD
@magus77 thanks !
@okamit OMG you made it to the end ! YES
This is a really beautiful game! Conceptually, I really like the combination of typing and trying to stay awake. I wish the eyes closed a bit more slowly, though. the amount of effort I had to put into that part distracted me from taking in the visuals and text as much as I wanted to.
trexxak
2022-04-07 13:18
Oh man, beautiful backdrops and interesting ideas for a typing game!
Holding your eyes open is an essential part of the story, and I get that, even if the protagonists is annoyed by it, his survival depends on it. The current implementation may just be a tad to bothersome, for me at least, so I really want to thank you for the cheat menu!
There's a lot of style and worldbuilding in this, and the depressing world I wandered did really immerse me - which is rare enough. I loved the very fitting ending as well! Amazing work!
simba
2022-04-07 13:27
Wow very unique game, I really enjoyed playing it. At first I wasn't thrilled with the constant J+L, but it really adds to the tension when you have to type other words. The audio and art style were so well done and nailed the atmosphere I think you were going for. I was really surprised by how creative the puzzles were with these mechanics.
Constructive Feedback: the player movement speed felt just a tad slow.
@tetrapteryx @simba thank you !
@trexxak thank you ! GREAT someone else reached the ending !
nash
2022-04-07 14:19
Great art, music and overall mood. The mechanic was very interesting and I think you could do a lot more with it if you keep working on the game after the jam.
The only thing taking away my enjoyment was the constant pressing of J and K keys to stay awake. I just found out myself mashing those two keys. Either the awake period should be significantly longer or maybe use the typing mechanic instead of pressing 2 keys.
Other than that, this was great!
Whilst I really like the game, I can't play it very far as my hand starts to hurt with the constant typing. I love the concept, really do, but I would enjoy it much more without that.
Great atmosphere and gameplay though, big fan of Limbo and those games, you've done well!
@marc-grabow thx, you can use the cheat menu (see game's page) to desactivate the eye closing if you want.
@nash thank you !
The artwork is fantastic!! MY biggest note is in the level with the city, the Parallax was backwards. You want the objects further back to move *slower* than the foreground. I don't think that issue was in any other levels? It was most noticeable in the one with the townsfolk.
The art reminds me of Limbo, but I've also never played that game. You perfectly nailed the spooky dark aesthetic, and the fact that your character is drowsy and you gotta keep them awake adds some extra challenge that makes this game different from the rest. It was definitely tough to type things that fast in some sections (I'm not the fastest typer, admittingly) the story and mood are super eerie, and I just love it. Great game all around!
@100th-coin thank you !! I'm glad you liked it.
Nice art and sound! The control system is very innovative too, but could maybe use a little work in terms of how it's implemented.
I think there might be something wrong with the web version. It nearly crashed my browser when it changed scene. The windows version was spamming a bunch of errors to the console on scene changes too.
korvack
2022-04-07 22:27
It's weird, it doesn't work for me...I can't close my eyes, the keys don't work. Just after typing START the scene starts and then restarts endlessly every 2 seconds. I tried the web version and the application version. If I deactivate the eyes with the + cheat the scene does not restart anymore and seems to be proceeding normally. But I would like to play with the mechanics of the eyes!
jirushi
2022-04-07 23:10
Gorgeous and ingenious
jirushi
2022-04-07 23:12
yaen
2022-04-07 23:19
Wow this is really good! I liked the visuals and general atmosphere a lot. Also it's an interesting feeling to have to type out words while still hitting j and l. There's one place where I think another checkpoint could've been useful - at the pit where you have to push to make a bridge. It kind of feels like a very long and dangerous section.
I got a crash once where it said webgl context lost and then the game hung up. I'm using Firefox.
Cool music too, I liked the ambience of it. Wish there was a little more other audio like footsteps and audio feedback when typing letters.
Overall felt very polished and the game world was intriguing.
Good
- Atmosphere, everything goes together really well - Graphics, I love the Limbo style - Music also sets the scene
Suggestions
- Make it work on Firefox. For me the backgrounds were all black, I could only see the characters, eyes and JL. At first I assumed it was supposed to start like that. - ...or make it clear that people should use Chrome. - The keep-your-eyes-open mechanic could be a bit more varied/interesting than typing two letters. - Give stronger feedback when the player dies and why (monster or eyes closed?) - Currently backgrounds do not always extend to the bottom of the screen, music stutters at the end of the level.
Good job overall!
@jirushi @yaen @dining-philosopher thank you for the feedback !
@korvack there can be problems with the web version if you're not using Chrome. But I don't see how it's possible for the windows version, it works for everyone else. :(
The graphics were really neat and nice mood in this one ! I wanted to go further and really understand the story (the text displaying in the environment is really cool) But unfortunately I was blocked at the first gate where the old man tel you to keep your eyes open. The eyes mechanic was interesting at first but then it was very tedious to spam the keys. Also, word typing games are very difficult on non-QWERTY keyboards :stuck_out_tongue: But overall great job !
fluri
2022-04-08 12:30
Really nice atmosphere and strong silhouettes :)
Music bugged out while loading scenes and the end credits were switching between the end text.
@fluri Yeah I realised that too late. Happy that you reached the end tho :D
@antoined73 thx ^^ You just have to be next to the gate and type OPEN. I also advise you to read the game's page, as it's explained that there's a cheat menu for if you're stuck (which shouldn't happen) AND a custom keybinding option for non QWERTY keyboards (like my own).
Wow it is fantastic game (obvious i think because of a lot of good comments xD). I have had really fun time play with your game. It is cool combination of narrative design and game mechanics so gamedesign is greate! For me it was the most excited game I played on this gamejab! Great job! But game quite raw, I think, but for jab it is still an awesome result!
@krakadushka thank you !!
It's really good game!
i loved the mood of this game. as someone who struggles with being organised i've have many all nighters trying to get things done and i felt a part of that in this game. also im not sure its intentional but having to constantly type j,l,j,l... was starting to become physically painful. while probably bad for a wide audience, as a niche piece of art i think this is great as a means of making the player experience the effect of having to hold off sleep when you are so very tired. i think if i had to change anything i would make it so the play just had to press any key they wanted to stay awake, so that they could find what ever is more comfortable.
Amazing game. Took me a moment to figure out the typing part but really clever interface! Well done!
@bravebanana @claytonrumley thank you !
@radmccool yes we knew this mechanic was a risky move, but it was intentionnal
I love the art style and mood! :heart_eyes: The typing mechanic fits perfectly. Great job :thumbsup:
mharring
2022-04-09 15:24
Great job! Falling asleep certainly felt inevitable. I liked the mechanics but it felt a little odd that typing the names also moved the character (i.e. typing "SLASH" would move left when you typed "A"). My hands got a little tired of hitting "J" and "L" all the time, too, but you guys did a great job nailing the atmosphere. Well done!
Great game, The artstyle is nice and I like the atmosphere.
angiemon
2022-04-09 19:05
Finally managed to get back to you guys!!
Okay, first of all - how dare you make me push Groot?! ^^
pushgroot-jpg.jpg
Now for real, a great entry! I liked the gameplay and the visuals - I actually don't feel like it's such a Limbo clone at all, more like it's own thing (but isn't that ultimatly better? :))
I will say, at first I thought I had to close my eyes when there was light (probably because that happens in a bunch of games, and he's in the darkness at first etc. ^^) and was confused, but figured it out pretty quickly :) I liked this mechanic a lot, as it made me having to plan and time when I do this while fighting off monsters/doing actions
Oh, also, the start mechanic in the beginning didn't work at firstm which is the reasom it took me so long to play your game - but that can probably be blamed on my shitty wireless keyboard? ^^
Now I'm playing the Web Version on my Macbook :) It sometimes lagged a bit, and loading between levels took a while, but again, can be my shitty internet, haha 🙈
aesthetically this was so beautiful! really moody (get it? like gloomy but also because of the mood? ahem. what I meant to say was atmospheric :))
I also really liked the checkpoints, and how meticulessly you seem to have tested this, because I was able to fend those flying beasts and monsters off in the last second waaay to often to it being a coincidence :D which made it feel really good and meaningful and gave me that "barely made it in the nick of time, hell yeah!" vibe.
Btw, if you wanna keep on working on this, here's a little something that can make impatient dummies like me get stuck ^^
stuck.jpg
(apparently I wasn't so upset about pushing groot the second time, seeing as I mindlessly and impatiently rushed above his moveless body like it was nothing :P)
All jokes aside, a great enty guys!!! you can be proud of yourselfes. Bet you get a good ranking, hehe :)
Oh, good font btw. Further polished the game (Gamejams really make me hate Arial... ^^° ahem.)
@angiemon Well, best review so far, and obviously most energetic review.
Yeah well font should be much better, I brushed over it too quickly and messed up the selection (as yo ucan notice the R on the typing section, for instance in staRt is way too jarring, typing font has slightly too much personnality)
Your clicking problems might be because if you fullscreen on itchio you need to click again or controls wont register !
angiemon
2022-04-09 19:36
@gramsinator ohh well it can always be a LITTLE better and a game is never finished, right ;)
I for one thought it looked good ^.^ (I also thought that was totally on purpose btw, to fit this jumpy, distorted, "haunted" feel of the game :))
I didn't have a clicking problem now, the keyboard one was on my windows machine where I downloaded the build :) But again, that might just have been my shitty keyboard ^^
@angiemon thank you for your feedback ! I'm happy that you've been able to play and (as the game designer) that you liked it !
alks
2022-04-09 20:41
Such nice game! I really love the art music! Reminds me of limbo! Thanks for making this!
@alks @arcticmattekar @mharring @thegamerasd thx !
Aaaah my fingers are exhausted. I guess that's part of the game, making the player feel as tired as the character. I really loved the concept and the execution of it. The art is wonderful (although I'm not sure about the white outline on the character's arm, as well as the pixelated/aliased, and the choice of text colors), and the music fits really well.
Some things I've noticed: it's much easier to just maintain one eye opened, it has no side effect. It would be better to add some way to change the controls: not everybody uses a qwerty keyboard, and for people with other layout, they have the choice between weird controls or a layout they are not confortable with for typing words.
Another little annoying thing is the way the music stops between each level and when we die. It feels really abrupt. I guess the music shouldn't stop between levels (and visually, there should be some kind of smooth transition), and it could have some kind of slow fading out when we fail.
Overall, that's a super nice moody game, with a great concept. Good job!
Hello! Wow I'm super enthralled by this game! It's just oozing with mood. Cool original story and characters and the art and design was fantastic! The only small improvement I could see was there was a little glitchiness between levels with audio kinda sounding stuck between loading. Other than that excellent!
tygrak
2022-04-17 17:43
Super cool game! The ambience and graphics and sounds were all excellent!~ The gameplay was cool too, but I have to say having to press J and L constantly was a bit annoying. I understand that it signifies the character having to really fight to keep their eyes open, and I really like the symbolism in that, but from a gameplay standpoint I don't think it works too good. Maybe having to keep your eyes open by pressing buttons like this could be used just in small parts of the game? That is just one small thing though, the game was great! Good job everyone!
ehon
2022-04-17 19:14
Haha, I feel like it's not a rule that each LD jam there is a Limbo-inspired game that people absolutely love. In the LD50, ti's this one ;D Good job.
Wow. I've never seen a game like this use typing. It does tire my right hand a lot though trying to keep my eyes open. I guess because I didn't know how long I had I tended to keep pressing J & L repeatedly, and that got pretty tiresome x)
Also at least for me the sound bugged in the transitions between levels.
I love it! Great work!
hawkin
2022-04-19 02:14
Incredible job team! I really enjoyed this. Nothing more to add that hasn't already been said, but just to reiterate: I'm really impressed by everyone's efforts here!
erkberg
2022-04-19 19:29
Really great game with a very dark story! I featured it in part seven of my let's play series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgPpMxxPfRs
A solid idea presented very well. Really nails the mood. Bonus points for the custom keybinding option!
@cubanfrog finally, someone who appreciate the keybinding. XD
Cool game! Looks and sounds very nice. Writing was a bit predictable IMO but I see what you were going for with it 😅 It all certainly came together to create a lot of atmosphere and mood. Kind of expected the dead family member by the end of it, but having to actually let go and close my eyes was a nice twist that made good use of the narrative and mechanics all in one I think. Typing is a fun mechanic. I'm not good at button mashing so I'm glad it wasn't something you had to do constantly. Agree with Arhaïr on the tendon thing, ended up preferring to just move my hand and use the same finger for both keys. You got a pretty fair amount of content in for a jam game, which always impresses me. Overall I think you did a solid job on this 😊