* OVERVIEW * You are Remi. A depressed existentialist earthworm contemplating his life.
* KEY DETAILS * - There is NO RESTART! Please refresh browser to play again! - Use headphones for best experience!!! - This game is BIG, so please be patient. We've created a cool experience for you to play through. (A very big file for a very small worm)
* FEATURES * - Eat the truffles. - Contemplate existence. - Be a worm.
* CONTROLS * W - To move forward Space - To illuminate Mouse - Look around
* THE TEAM * Maria Diment - Texture Artist Diego Henriquez - 3D Artist Christian Potvin (@GamerTaters) - Code, Sound Sean Toomey (@Hip2Me) - Code, Idea-haver
* ASSET CREDITS * Font - La Belle Aurore (dafont.com) Font - Type-Ra (dafont.com) Music - "Raining" by Kai Engel (freemusicarchive.org) Music - "Pompas de jabon" by Circus Marcus (freemusicarchive.org) Sound - Various sourced from freesound.org
* TECHNICAL STUFF * - World is procedurally generated. - Audio voice over queues are randomly generated.
* BUILDS * - Web (Runs with some difficulty on slower machines) - Windows - Mac OS/X (Recommend not running full screen) - Linux
* BUG FIXES * - Fixed a minor bug involving truffle generation. - Fixed a crash issue if game ran too long. - Fixed a transition issue for one of the endings.
I like contemplating existence. Why do I listen to my thoughts for an eternity and not recognize that I can already crawl? Why does this feel awkward when all I have to do is push forward? Does this ever end? What are those shiny drops that I swallow? Why does this look so beautiful? Why do I feel so content and at peace?
:/ On the Mac version, at least, the mouse cursor doesn't disappear, which meant I kept having the start and menu bars pop up. I would also often move forward, but hitch on something and stop, which seemed really odd because I seemed to have no volume. I also have trouble with a non-inverted mouse.
All this added up to me stopping reading the subtitles early on, and by the time I realized that, I had already missed so much that there was no point in continuing the game.
Amazing game, nice atmosphere, the materials were a bit shiney but nice for the time spent. Got a bit boring after a while. Found myself questioning everything.
This is my very favorite game jam game, maybe in my top 3 jam games ever. The mood is perfect, the theme is well incorporated, the pacing is great, and the length of play is superb. The voice over is fantastic, and very appropriate. Thank you for this! (P.S. I would have paid money for this experience. Not kidding.)
Clearly one of the most innovative experiences of this LD. The narration and the music are great, and really made me feel sad. I really liked this idea. Great job!
Interesting narrative and awesome music! On the gameplay side it was mildly fun to play, I would have liked the illuminate to last a bit longer, it was a bit frustrating that I couldn't see where more than half the time(which might be intended?) and found it difficult to discern which parts of my surroundings I could go through which caused some unfavorable backtracking. Overall I really felt like a worm, good job!
Very unique game. Love the graphics, music, atmosphere, narration and mechanics. would be great with some sense of purpose, but then again that is what the worm thinks too.
Thanks for the great feedback! We had a lot of fun putting this game together. It makes us really happy to see people enjoying the game. There are definitely more things we we're hoping to put in the game, but we simply ran out of time (other endings, more context sensitive audio/voiceovers, general gameplay tweaking, etc...).
@Crowbeak: Sorry for the trouble with the mac version. I can only recommend playing it windowed to avoid mac toolbar issues. Providing an inverted mouse control option is a great idea. Thank you!
@Kaoin: Striking that balance between too much and too little light is tough. We'll definitely keep it in mind. We like it dark, but it might be a little too dark.
Nice mood, and nice narration. Not much gameplay, but then again, in games like these it isn't about the gameplay, but about the experience! - Nice job.
Very good! I loved this. A very cool experience. Also I love worm games LOL! The noisy camera effect was very good. Great music and narration. At first when I saw the shiny dirt surrounding me I was hoping there'd be a creepy twist that he was like on the inside of a human or something. But I guess it's for the best that didn't happen...
I find it interesting that I didn't even think of the theme until actually rating the game. I guess I was so engrossed in the narration. The Nietzsche quote was very fitting.
The narration did a great job of keeping me in the game. the movement system was interesting. The super shininess made everything look like it was made of silly putty. Very nice entry.
Really like the mood, lighting, and overall feel of the game. The writing is excellent and art is well done (a couple of seams here and there. Could give the player more choice, feels like your'e on rails a bit.
"A depressed existentialist earthworm contemplating his life." My God, I think I'm love: that is just such a brilliant theme. Loved the music and voiceover and the cosily weird mood that creates; the graphics were sublime too. A really great entry, congrats.
Wow, truly an experience. I enjoyed it very much worth the wait for to load. Graphics were awesome and the music and voice over set a very good mood for the game. I would've loved being able to shoot light faster because it's very difficult to navigate sometimes. Good job guys!
Nice atmoshpere but could't get used to the controls. Mouse pointer kept on exiting the frame so it was really tedious moving around...
P
pinkmonkeyhead4 May 2014, 19:06
Thats really impressive!! Amazing graphics, the level design creates a goos mood and the narration also. My only complain is about the way the player moves Beside that, incredible entry
Overall a very impressive entry! However this doesn't strike me as a 'game', rather, an interactive story.
I got a "Fin" message before I feel I was at the end? The worm was still speaking, and I was about two movements away from another collectible pink blob, I never reached it and the screen faded out.
This is more artistic than a game and so I will grade it on that kind of premise.
The graphics were good, but the bump-mapping (I assume that's what's used) gives all the mud a very wet look. The textures didn't nicely wrap around the mud, but rather have some texture alignment issues that you'd expect to see on older games; however I know this isn't an easy task and to fiddle with finer details like this in the time constraints would have been difficult.
The music, if originally composed, we perfect for the cause. It had a French feel to it, and was very moody, setting the intended depressed feel to the game. The vocal work, I say the same. Depressing. Which makes the mood go straight up.
The thought of being a worm to fit the theme Beneath the surface is undeniably simple, yet, perfect!
Cool take on the theme! The style of the game is quite unique, good job on the textures! The melodiousness of French worked great in combination with the subtitles! :)
All in all an artsy game with a great mood about deep thoughts.
What a delightful and interesting experience, and nice narration. I was wondering if there was going to be any end to this, but I managed to stick until the end. Nice strange artsy entry.
Sorry it's taken me so long to rate this. The game was interesting. I liked your take on the theme and your use of narrative, visuals, and sound to create a perfectly executed mood.
I think by its very nature existentialism is a little bit of a hard sell. You wanted to convey a feeling of loneliness and pointlessness and you did, but I don't know if I can say that was fun. Innovative, absolutely, but I don't know about fun.
I think this was a very solid entry for 72 hours and you obviously put a ton of hard work into this. Very nicely done and thanks for sharing and playing/rating my game.
Good atmosphere. Nice music and graphics. I played to the end, but I must say, that the game bored me pretty quickly. Another minor technical complaint: I played on OS/X. The game did not "capture" my mouse cursor. So I constantly opened up the dock and task bar. Besides these complaints, you managed to make a very good entry!
I'm speechless. You've done a great job. I actually played it twice to see if there were other endings and I was shocked when I realized that the monologue is somewhat random each time. I wasn't bored even once during my two full plays, just... sad? Anyway, even while I don't think it's much of a game, it's certainly a beautiful interactive movie, experience, art if you wish. Will recommend this game to everyone I know, great job!
Funny thing I've thought of. I don't think it would be so immersive for me if I could understand French.
Comments53
Why do I listen to my thoughts for an eternity and not recognize that I can already crawl? Why does this feel awkward when all I have to do is push forward? Does this ever end? What are those shiny drops that I swallow?
Why does this look so beautiful? Why do I feel so content and at peace?
All this added up to me stopping reading the subtitles early on, and by the time I realized that, I had already missed so much that there was no point in continuing the game.
@Crowbeak: Sorry for the trouble with the mac version. I can only recommend playing it windowed to avoid mac toolbar issues. Providing an inverted mouse control option is a great idea. Thank you!
@Kaoin: Striking that balance between too much and too little light is tough. We'll definitely keep it in mind. We like it dark, but it might be a little too dark.
@Everyone: Thanks for playing our game!!! :)
Amazing graphics, the level design creates a goos mood and the narration also.
My only complain is about the way the player moves
Beside that, incredible entry
I got a "Fin" message before I feel I was at the end? The worm was still speaking, and I was about two movements away from another collectible pink blob, I never reached it and the screen faded out.
This is more artistic than a game and so I will grade it on that kind of premise.
The graphics were good, but the bump-mapping (I assume that's what's used) gives all the mud a very wet look. The textures didn't nicely wrap around the mud, but rather have some texture alignment issues that you'd expect to see on older games; however I know this isn't an easy task and to fiddle with finer details like this in the time constraints would have been difficult.
The music, if originally composed, we perfect for the cause. It had a French feel to it, and was very moody, setting the intended depressed feel to the game. The vocal work, I say the same. Depressing. Which makes the mood go straight up.
The thought of being a worm to fit the theme Beneath the surface is undeniably simple, yet, perfect!
Right, I'm gonna go cheer myself up now. :P
The melodiousness of French worked great in combination with the subtitles! :)
All in all an artsy game with a great mood about deep thoughts.
I think by its very nature existentialism is a little bit of a hard sell. You wanted to convey a feeling of loneliness and pointlessness and you did, but I don't know if I can say that was fun. Innovative, absolutely, but I don't know about fun.
I think this was a very solid entry for 72 hours and you obviously put a ton of hard work into this. Very nicely done and thanks for sharing and playing/rating my game.
Take care! :D
Besides these complaints, you managed to make a very good entry!
Funny thing I've thought of. I don't think it would be so immersive for me if I could understand French.