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Between My Shadows

By jordwest

View on ldjam.com

CategoryRankScoreCount
Overall673.9339
Fun2373.5039
Innovation3123.2939
Theme3283.6239
Graphics1503.8639
Audio214.1239
Humor3422.6233
Mood104.3739

Comments

lucas-guimaraes 2022-04-04 07:20

wow. I like this one. I think some improvement around the area to where you see could be used, but I like where this is going.

scrawny 2022-04-04 07:51

Had a great time, very moody, the FMV parts really added to the atmosphere. Got small hiccups whenever I fired though (like 0.1 sec), not sure if that's just me

jordwest 2022-04-04 08:02

@scrawny do you remember which weapon you were using? There are a bunch of collision checks that are happening when the "reject" weapon is fired that might be the issue, I might need do find a way to reduce those.

sirjupitron 2022-04-04 11:02

Hi! One of my favourites so far. Loved the roguelike and shooting mechanics, nailed the mood. Feel like very close or deep feelings are presented in a cinematic like, tough one, in a good way. Will hit very close to some of us, nicely done.

eaglev 2022-04-04 11:02

Liked the game and the vibe, I did find it a bit too easy to beam away the shadows, which made them a lot less scary. Also not sure if that's intentional but I got offered the dash upgrade twice? I guess it makes sense, if that's a gem for movement upgrade and you only have 1 movement skill, but still it looked a bit weird to choose between 2 identical options.

boc-dev 2022-04-04 11:11

very creepy, loved it! And a heart warming message at the end!

mensio 2022-04-04 11:46

Really nice! I love the atmosphere, and the gameplay was pretty fun too.

I've noticed small hiccups too when firing the reject weapon. In particular at the end, if you choose fear and there's a big number of shadows, firing the reject weapon causes very noticible stutters (maybe because of the shadows bumping into each other?)

noobhereo 2022-04-04 12:05

Top contendor in the compo challenge! This was amazing. The game has so much potential. The visuals is awesome, I love the retro/pixelated take on these low poly models. I wish there was more cutscenes and lore. I think the dark backstory of why the player is there, contributes a lot to the entire setting and atmosphere of the game. Keep up the good work, I'd love to see this game more evolved in the future!

EDIT: The sounds by the way; they are amazing. No clue how you managed to make this game in 48 hours!

jordwest 2022-04-04 12:17

@noobhereo that's very kind, thank you! I would have loved to have more time to add more cutscenes and flesh out the story.

> EDIT: The sounds by the way; they are amazing. No clue how you managed to make this game in 48 hours!

The sounds were actually one of the easier parts, I spent probably around 3-4 hours on them total. For horror games the secret is reverb. Take pretty much any sound - banging a table, voices, breathing, then reverb on top of reverb on top of reverb... covers up most inconsistencies :) The weapon sounds and background ambience were made in FL Studio with the open source Surge XT plugin - I use it a bit like a fancier SFXR. Piano and string instruments come from Spitfire Audio's free LABS plugin, again horror is easy here because you can get away with simple one-note beats, single drawn out notes, or playing random discordant notes that sound really off.

jordwest 2022-04-04 12:19

@sirjupitron

> Feel like very close or deep feelings are presented in a cinematic like, tough one, in a good way.

Thank you, that's what I was hoping for!

jordwest 2022-04-04 12:22

@eaglev

> I did find it a bit too easy to beam away the shadows, which made them a lot less scary.

Agreed, I wish I had more time to work on the balance but as always that fell to the bottom of the priorities. Definitely needs some more difficult enemies.

And yes, the double dash is because it's the only upgrade left at the end if you've upgraded the primary all the way. I wanted to add more upgrades too but that was another victim of the time limit

corporation 2022-04-04 18:48

Wow, very impressive, didn't expect to play somthing like this. If there are games made for mood category - this is the one. Very liked storytelling and overall feeling of the game. Small sugestions - game was not challenging at any moment, but I actually think it did fit overall story approach. Also I felt like the jam theme was hardly related there. Overall very good job)

sayurinyooko 2022-04-05 14:52

First, the game remind me of the game HP 3 when you have to defeat dementors but then I find something more of it. It's deep and realistic. I like it, thank you!

dan-smith 2022-04-05 16:20

Really liked the atmosphere, the music fit the vibe really well. Seemed to die to enemies I couldn't see, but overall had fun playing it :)

vidarn 2022-04-05 18:02

Good job balancing the gameplay with the narrative. The graphics and audio worked very well to convey feelings. I liked the cutscenes and the way the game ended. Good job on making a memorable game

greenblacksky 2022-04-05 21:23

Great game, great experience, I really liked how you made portals)

ccglp 2022-04-05 22:30

I reaaally liked the Jung-shadows entry point for all the history about this personal issues, like others said the game feels very easy but it didn't strike me as bad seeing the heartwarming ending. Very good entry :)

jcg 2022-04-06 15:37

Really awesome! Loved the option of choice at the end. There's just something about this pixelated atmosphere that's really satisfying.

I didn't feel the need to use my run/dash much- kiting the shadows was just as effective at normal speed. It almost feels like shooting should slow you down or make you stumble in a way.

stamestratagem 2022-04-06 19:24

i enjoy personal and psychological games most, so I would love to see the concept go further. It's a bit frightening, I even jumpscared myself once (got jumpscared? jumped on scare? how do people say that?)

krg 2022-04-07 17:47

nice one

benbennett 2022-04-08 05:52

The audio and atmosphere were amazing! The combat was a little too easy, but it didn't bother me too much because of how good everything else was. Great entry!

nenechico 2022-04-08 06:32

Love the audio, the shadows deserve some quickwins : an effect like for the rocks at the beginning of the game ?

clemall 2022-04-09 11:25

Quite scary, I love the ambiance. The portals are amazing, almost like a dream (or nightmare :sweat_smile: ) Great job !

jackaljk 2022-04-09 20:13

The concept is cool and the atmosphere is great. The cloud like effect you made for the memories is amazing. The reject weapon when fired causes the game to freeze for a fraction of a second, you might wanna look into it. It's not really scary but I don't think you went for that, what with the upgrades and weapons and all of that. I love horror so you get bonus points, nice job!

agrimes 2022-04-10 00:05

Really moody, caught me by surprise with the first shadow.

notime4games 2022-04-19 19:53

What's up, my dudes? Between My Shadows by jordwest — Mozilla Firefox.png Really nice and moody game. Well done! I liked that you get to chose abilities, and the sound worked really well!