Following Footsteps

snesgaard 2022-10-03 17:51

Very spoopy game, like the atmosphere.

kingshake 2022-10-03 19:16

I got scared, nice done! would have liked some kind of warning that a red figure was heading my way

mossieur-patate 2022-10-21 13:56

(in a rush to test many, don’t mind the cursory style)

1. I see you gave the itch.io page as the link for the source code, but I only see the ZIP for the executable there (without code in it)! Did you forget to put the file, or put the wrong link? You can still correct this ;) 2. start: I thought this was a profile 2D game and was trying to jump X) Silly me 3. very immersive and frightening music! Well done; the ghostly screaming effect is great too. And I like the graphics for the man. And also the lamp’s tiny halo! And the greater "floaty" halo :) 4. Controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard), BUT arrow keys are enabled. 5. the footsteps sound, while fitting in itself, feels a bit off; maybe the feet’s animation would have to be sped up a bit to match it? 6. the concept reminds me of some games, such as [*Holeworm*](https://itch.io/jam/mini-jam-112-chrono/rate/1653683); so, some people already thought about it (even the evil clones from *Super Mario Galaxy* fit this!), but I still like it :) 7. I like the pithy "rune" indication! :) Although I managed to figure out the concept before through the title and capture. So, great job quickly conveying what is happening! Still, I think triggering the phenomenon only ONCE you have SEEN the rune would be better (and make this open a portal to the "dungeon", for example), as I was losing before even really starting to play. 8. feels like a mix between an exploration/adventure game, speed game, and puzzle game! Great 9. trying to walk intelligently, but this is not that easy with the limited visibility in the darkness (I used myself such a torchlight mechanic in several games, it is useful) 10. suddenly thinking about the theme: I guess you get a "ghost" every ten seconds 11. reached 2nd zone! 12. haha, got the key at my first attempt, then explored the two dead-ends: hilarious runes by Captain Obvious XD 13. would have liked a pause feature (to take notes!) by the way, but this is a detail 14. oh great, varied runes, with riddles! :D Path puzzle: I think the first rune displaying the solution was not necessary, but I guess this is better to make sure some players do not get stuck for not getting what is happening. Managed the puzzle on my first time, got caught RIGHT after XD The game is stressful!! 15. glad the start of each zone acts as a checkpoint! :) The length of the areas feels reasonable, up to now 16. 3rd zone: WOW, synchronizing seems hard, because you have to gauge how your pasts behave taking into account precise ten-second intervals! :o All the while being able to escape the dead-ends… 17. managed it at my real (= non-dying XD) 2nd attempt; waiting a bit was enough. You managed to design clever yet manageable time puzzles, well done 18. 4th zone: merely rushing to the end was enough; was the idea to have decoy doors? I think it should have been made a little more labyrinthy if this is the case 19. 5th zone: wow, straightfoward, yet makes you think again! By the way, makes me realize the ticks; useful, yet not unnerving, these ticks sound entirely natural, as if fitting the music’s beat :) 20. managed 5th zone by being super slow; not sure if there was another way, but I think you could have placed way less switches — unless my slow solution was suboptimal and a bit dumb X) 21. 6th zone: again!! :o Oh, bug? The door opens right away! Coming back to look a bit: now I get it for here and 5th zone: there is a DELAY so that switches stay activated for some time XD Very good idea, I wish I had noticed earlier… 22. 7th zone (somewhat "skipping" 6th zone, although I got the general idea :p) 23. I like how the candles float when in UI :) 24. weird, could reach the end without exploring! Retracing my steps to explore more; decoy puzzle (North-East)? 25. and decoy dead-end to the North-West. This is great, BUT I think some way of challenging the player so that he cannot reach the end too easily should be found, in the architecture of the level

(1/2)

mossieur-patate 2022-10-21 13:56

(continued: 2/2)

26. also, the darkened doors are not always that visible; maybe lighten them a bit? 27. reached 8th zone. Oh, zoom out and additional music layer! :) Is this the end? OH NO, while taking notes, error message (about texture), music gets launched several times, several such error messages, and the game finally crashes (and closes my Sublime Text)!! <:o I feel like I am going to have to do all the levels once again to come back here… :S Entering SPEEDRUNNING mode, because I want to see the end 28. launching again: weird, no fullscreen this time 29. ah, in 3rd zone again, I get that there was little to no delay for the buttons there, which is why I missed it in 5th! Maybe differentiate the buttons (through colour, for example)? 30. 4th zone again: there was a key upwards! Did not need it the first time: bug? 31. a series of keys, actually! So, I think the fact that the end door is already openable is a bug. Glad to see I missed the concept of this level! 32. it IS hard XD Had the last key when caught, I think; now getting to the end :p 33. 5th zone: the delay is about 5 seconds, so I can go about two times faster 34. it still takes long X) But less! 35. by the way, I love the distortion effect on the red ghosts. Great for immersion too 36. reached the final room!! **[spoiler]** the alarm clock reminds me of my (yet to be debugged and finished) *Clock Work: Wake-Up Call* ;) 37. the zooming out is great dramatisation, too 38. what to do? Caught; now, I understand the bug: in the final zone, there is apparently no resetting of the ghost generation, which makes you then quickly followed by a lot of them; so, I have to hurry! 39. **[spoiler]** after several tries, figured those squares were not pillars (I wrongly thought so because of the architecture!), but regular switches! 40. WON!! :D The final lap! (F-Zero X voice)") 41. and this gives a final crash! :o Although I get to see the (simple) ending screen. :) Also, the ticking poetically continues at least a little bit! Is this intended? :) Bug report: >___________________________________________ >############################################################################################ >ERROR in >action number 1 >of Alarm Event for alarm 0 >for object oGame: > >Unable to find any instance for object index '13' name 'oPlayer' >at gml_Object_oGame_Alarm_0 >############################################################################################ >gml_Object_oGame_Alarm_0 (line -1)

**Takeaway:** wow, what an experience! Already seen this concept, but it was put to good use here, especially as the ten seconds are important in relation to the switches. The pithy visual in-game rune tutorials were absolutely great, there were various puzzle types and mechanics, and a respectable amount of levels (8, if I counted correctly), often not so short (not taking the two buggy already opened final doors into account :p). The game was often rather challenging, starting upon the very first level! Small criticisms would include that some things were a bit hard to see (doors, keys, difference between switch types) and some levels could be revamped (especially, level 7 with the straight way to the candles, and level 5 with less switches; maybe also level 6, but I "cheated" :p). The sounds, music, darkness, and even zooming-outs from the last level made the whole experience immersive and tense! (I jumped at least once when caught by a ghost.)

This was a GREAT game (gem!), I am rather impressed you put so much into so little time! :) I cannot believe so few people have seen it (only two votes at the time of my writing), please DO test some other games so that yours get more feedback and rated!!

[Do not forget to review and rate other games, if you have enough time; it will also help yours get noticed and have testers and feedback. :)]