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The Only Way Is Forward
The Only Way Is Forward
By fabian-denter
View on ldjam.com
| Category | Rank | Score | Count |
|
|---|
| Overall | 19 | 4.11 | 28 | |
| Fun | 158 | 3.51 | 28 | |
| Innovation | 160 | 3.50 | 28 | |
| Theme | 346 | 3.30 | 28 | |
| Graphics | 6 | 4.53 | 28 | |
| Audio | 3 | 4.61 | 28 | |
| Humor | 254 | 2.52 | 26 | |
| Mood | 1 | 4.69 | 28 | |
Comments
naemis
2022-10-03 06:37
Hey this game doesn't pertain to the theme!!
Jokes aside, this game is both audibly and visually amazing in what you did in 48 hours. It's almost hard to believe that you did this in 48 hours. Incredible story, really reminded me of the story from the game Darkwood.
You have really great design principles and the color, tone, and composition of each frame in the right side screen was done very well. Syncing the music to align with the visual distortion was also amazing. You have a great knack for setting the mood/tone/feeling of a game. I believe you really highlighted what you're really good at making. I checked your other works and your design is incredible.
Audio work was also incredible and really set the tone for the game. The constant buzzing, mimicking the sound of the pulse that you would hear, the distorted voice acting (is that considered solo for compo lol?), and the environmental sounds (wind noises, car moving noises, etc.)
If there are any criticisms, this didn't really fit along with the theme... maybe every 10 seconds the visual distortion happened and if that's the case that is incredible attention to detail. I'll change my rating if that was your intention lmao. I'd also love to see you try a take on game mechanics and work on things on your weaker side.
Overall great game! Love to see more professional work from you in the future :D
@naemis Hey thanks for playing my game and the kind words! I probably only finished it in time because of the lack of game mechanics, but I agree, that's something I'd like to explore more in future jams. Regarding the theme, the pulses come indeed every 10 seconds. I decided to purely interpret it as a narrative element, and it's essentially just a single InvokeRepeating method that runs every 10 seconds. Oh, and the "voice acting" is just regular, but heavily processed text to speech, no humans involved here ;)
The atmosphere you created is amazing! From the visuals to the audio and how the story element of the headach feeling translated into the distorted screen, I was blown away! However the theme only really seemed to be an afterthought, which I dont think matters too much though. I liked how you did an interactive visual novel type of thing, but I felt the interactive part fell a bit flat. I didnt feel like I had much influence on the story, eg. when there were three dialogue options to choose from but I ended up having to pick all of them anyway. This made the initial choice of which of the three to say kind of meaningless. The story itself was really cool though and had me very intrigued! Great work :)
wizcas
2022-10-03 15:03
What an experience. Although I didn't quite get the theme of "every 10 seconds" until reading your comments above, the atmosphere and mood in this game is so strong and catchy. The graphics and audio are outstanding. The story is creepy and vague, which makes definitely wonder what's actually happening.
It's a bit unsatisfied that the game ends so soon. I love the night visual effect more than the day time. It could be more impressive if there are more scenes happening during the night time with more lighting effects.
Overall, I think this is quite an indie work in terms of completeness. Thank you for bringing this experience!
Such a fantastic entry, wow! The aesthetics, the art direction, the audio direction, the storytelling, the whole atmosphere; just wonderful. It's one of the best I've seen so far. Amazing job!
soskstu
2022-10-04 15:20
I really loved this entry!!! So cinematic and the theme is totally there! The atmosphere is intense and so well crafter - a fantastic entry!
Wow i'm actually blown away by the atmosphere and the emotions you managed to put through this brilliant game even if i'm not quite a fan of this kind of games usually ! Congrats !
indigo
2022-10-04 15:44
Ah, the most famous video game genre of "not a game at all"! Well, at least it's not a walking simulator. ;-)
I'm joking, of course. No, I agree with the other commenters, the mood, graphics and audio are all really well done. I enjoy how polished it feels - there isn't anything about it that screams "I was done in 48 hours" to me. Another great example for why you should always go for a minimal idea in LD and polish it to completeness, instead of trying to do everything at once and only ever finishing half of it.
raivk
2022-10-04 16:22
Okay, this one is really great. Totally insane mood. Loved the artstyle and the UI Design. You really nailed it. Makes me think about the game In Other Waters. Similar mood, writing, design and audio. Oh btw the audio, it's really great! Love it!
Anyway, the story is tense, mysterious, well written. It's really an impressive work for a gamejam. Probably the best entry I've seen for now. Congratulations. Will definitely follow you and your upcoming works.
labtoast
2022-10-04 16:41
Excellent entry! Were it not for the other commenters, I don't think I would've picked up on the theme, but as far as a text adventure goes it REALLY added to the atmosphere. I particularly like how the distortion grew over time, made things very intense as the game progressed.
Overall, a great experience!
Really strong atmosphere. Also super strong on the visual, I was surprised when what I thought was a static image turned out to be a 3D scene. Really polished.
If I had to pick at anything -- the UI could be more responsive, there were a few times I clicked and it didn't register because the fade-in hadn't finished.
@justabread Thanks! I agree with the thing you said about the interactive part. At the very beginning I cut some ideas for scope reasons, which was a good decision in the end (as it meant the game got done), but that was at the cost of interactivity and player agency. I'm glad you still enjoyed it!
@wizcas Thank you for playing and the kind words! I like the night visuals better as well :)
@harry-alissavakis Hey thank you so much, Harry! Happy you enjoyed it!
@soskstu Thanks a lot for playing and the kind words!
@ussendayoo Glad you liked it, thanks for playing!
@indigo You are absolutely right, I fell into the feature creep trap a lot before, so I tried to limit myself in terms of features (especially regarding gameplay) and put most of my time into the stuff I know I can do fast and well. Though I'm very intrigued to leave my comfort zone in future jams. Thanks for playing and the feedback!
@raivk Thanks, it's an honor to be compared to a fantastic game like In Other Waters, thanks for playing!
@labtoast Yeah, the theme is a bit subtle. I still think it works as a purely narrative element (and would have liked to do more with it in that regard). Thanks for your kind words, and for playing of course!
@oatsbarley Thank you! There are a couple of flaws with how the UI reacts, unfortunately it was too late to fix them. Hope it wasn't too bad :)
forik
2022-10-05 12:53
It's awesome that you create it solo in 48h. Love this atmosphere and sounds. Respect for use narrative driven 10seconds theme.
But i was bored on waiting text and wait continue button. Its tooooo slow.
For voice acting you can try to use AI =)
What an awesome game - this was a pleasure to play. The visuals and audio were excellent, they really complemented the narrative. I love the really subtle use of the theme to have the pulses hit every 10 seconds with increasing severity as you move forward. I REALLY wanted to know what happened, the background around all this, how the main character got involved, etc.
This is really well done, from the atmosphere to the implementation - very nicely done
sky
2022-10-06 08:39
I totally agree with what everyone else has said here - the atmosphere is top notch and even the there's not really any gameplay the level of polish makes it stand out for a Compo entry. Your storytelling had me hooked into your world and invested in what would happen, it's quite the experience! Very impressive!
Wow, what an experience this was, the atmosphere is top-notch and the story telling is so good! This is really impressive, it's hard to believe that it was made in such a short time!
Really interesting and fun, great job!
I have complimented other games for their amazing atmosphere. I now need to recalibrate my understanding of what amazing atmosphere is.
Wow.
That was a whole different level.
It felt more like an experience than a game. And I'm not upset by it.
Thanks for the dystopian experience!
It is very difficult to consider this project as a prototype for a jam, as it is already a complete small game. A lot of work has been done, you are very good.
On the final credits at the end of the third stage I wondered why so little and want more!
By the visual design is not that there are no complaints, rather a question, how did you manage to do in such a short time such beauty? I envy the one who was responsible for the design of the project.
On the gameplay parallels with "mu cartographer" and "in other waters". I can not call myself a connoisseur of text/interface games, but the project fell into my heart and I completely penetrated into the world of the game. I would describe the project with the oxymoron "dynamic statics", when instead of the general atmosphere you start to empathize with the main character and let the story go through you.
In addition to the visuals, I would like to note the sound design, the speech of the dispatcher is made very authentically and complements the immersion in the project well.
For convenience, I should have added an alternative control on the arrow and space bar, but it is probably a personal quibble, which does not interfere with the gameplay.
Maybe it was worth working with the design of the text to make it even more (where else?) Immersed in the world of the game. And maybe to better disclose the topic should have added 10 seconds to make a decision, but rather a trifle than something significant.
I would like to see the project developed and not abandoned by the developers. A great job done. You are tremendous good job! As in other cool projects, I apologize for my terrible English, using a translator and in no way meant to sow negativity. Good luck!
ratrat44
2022-10-12 01:23
I thought the screen on the right was an image for quite a while and then when it started to move I was surprised and amazed! To me it seemed like some kind of alien entity was sending out weird mind waves trying to take control of people and the person on the radio was absorbed by it. I think a another ending where you manage to turn back or something would be cool, also having some thing happening on the side screen after you trigger certain events (Like having something run by or something like that). It really reminds me of Doctor Who when Angle Bob was leading people to him with a walkie talkie and killing them.
mtabasco
2022-10-13 16:07
This was a great experience, probably one of my favourite games from this jam! I usually skip games with a lot of text when rating LD games but this one was a pleasure, the writing is great and the atmosphere you created with the sound and the visuals is awesome. Good work!
I would like to know what software you used for the voice lines, I imagine you did some editing but the voice sounds so convincing!
Graphisms & audio is top notch. I'd have loved to have more gameplay mechanics but the job is amazing in 48h Excellent work !
asfdfdfd
2022-10-18 18:44
Weird in a cool way.