This is one of those games that is super simple, but incredibly moody It tells a story with very little words, and puts you in an emotional state that you weren't necessarily in before. I loved it.
52.8 :< I like how you rely on real-life advice about drowning for the player to understand how to play in order to survive longer. You didn't write "be careful not to drain your stamina for nothing, use the waves to avoid tiring yourself efficiently", you just explain how to _try_ to swim back up. It was great.
Very polished and (positively) grim, I love the character sprite animation together with the water sound effects. After 5 minutes I could still keep afloat easily using the same rhythm, though. More difficulty would be cool!
I gave up waiting for the inevitable, I started to get bored around ~300s, not my type of game I guess.
I felt the graphics and sounds were pretty good, the splash sounds and gurgling when reaching above the wave was a nice touch. There seemed to be a constant underwater sound, maybe you should have activated that and toned down the other sounds when going under.
One thing I thought about when watching this on streams, was that it was hard (for me at least) to tell if the wave or the screen was moving, the gradient background gives some clue to that but maybe some horizon would have made it more clear.
Agree with the previous comments that this would make a good mobile game. I liked the phrases that the man said about missing his family, is that a fin, etc.
After playing about 5 times I got to ~400 and figured I could have kept it going a long long time. But the first handful of plays I was ridiculously stressed (in a great way). LOVE the theme use, and the situation I've never really seen handled like that in a game beyond a simple "breath bar" that some games use as a side feature. Really cool. Thanks for all the tech help/advice through the weekend too!
A mere 59.5 seconds the first go, and a respectable 184.6 the second try!
Very good audio. It took me a second to realize that the wave timing was the level of the water relative to the screen/frame. Once I got that, I was able to ride them a bit and took slightly longer to die. The second go round was way better.
Consider putting this up in mobile app stores, if only for fun. High score bragging rights could be fun. It's a perfect touch screen game :)
Great execution on a simple, strong idea! it feels like a complete thought, with all facets of the experience considered and given equal attention. There's a lot to learn from an LD entry like this.
Oh wow you really nailed the feeling of desperation and panic. I still feel a bit anxious and the game has been over for a while. I got about 80 something seconds. I was trying to be fancy thinking I could trade breath for stamina and just drop under the water and then pop up on a wave. NOPE! HAHA. Gonna try again. Good job with the the theme and mood.
really nice - a lot smaller scope than last LD! the first thing i connected with was the audio which really sets the atmosphere. how did you make the water sounds? the little dude reminds me of King Graham who always ended up flailing in the water! i actually like that there wasn't a lot of noise going on with fish and boats and stuff, just his imagination.
Wow, you did so many great things to add to the tension of this game, from the jarring motions of everything, to the sound effects. Great use of the theme.
Wow, this is a great example of getting as much as possible out of a simple concept. It's impressive how much depth (haha) is here for just using one button.
Nice concept! Simple and clean! Really awesome and tragic.. Very nice art.. I don't know what more I can say.. Really really good. GOD. Damn! Genius! ;) Five stars.
Wow, you managed to capture the agonizing feeling of fighting to rise to the surface wonderfully. A brilliant interpretation of the theme, congratulations!
I had a pretty strong emotional reaction to this; it felt a little wrong to be playing it and slowly watching my little guy die (collection of pixels that he may be). The experience is well crafted though offputting.
Pretty simple, the game's very efficient at what it does. It was a lot of fun once I figured out that the camera movements corresponded to the wave motions. The audio was epic.
I started to play through a second time, but realized that no matter how well my dude did, he was still going to have the same fate. I let him down gently.
Great game! I especially liked that there's really a lot of hidden depth with multiple vectors of interaction even with just one button, which makes it simple but very skill-oriented. Very well done on that design.
Lots of little touches make it play very well - the "internal dialogue" and the juice. But ultimately a little more variety in gameplay or progression would have been awesome - and still can be :)
So many entries inspired by that le mer... Something ad. We know who reads Kotaku now, then :P
Definitely something perfect for mobile, really liked the overall mood. Couldnt get past the 60s mark, i felt like i didnt quite figure out how to ride the waves properly.
I read your name as gorgeous bastard. It fits the game, I suppose. Those sounds, though. Haunting me even after I closed the game. Would you mind making a standalone build?
Quite a grim game. I managed to survive for 59.1 secs. This game brought up some unpleasant memories from my childhood but the game is interesting. Nice work!
Super strong entry! Can I say it feels really good? I can really feel the desperateness of drowning. Sound effects are spot on. I did not understand the mechanic of the waves, however.
128.6s Took me some time to understand the the "waves" happen when the water goes up and down, since it's all a straight line. Pretty fun for a game about drowning!
The game is well thought out. I think the controls could be explained a little better. I though I would have to KEEP pressing up, but instead it was more about pressing it at the right time - I guess I should've read the tips first.
The splashing, the timing gameplay, and really everything. Once I got the hang of it, it made sense. Nicely done. :)
This actually made me feel extreme tension as my stamina approached zero. Love the overall mood and all the elements that contribute to the experience. The character monologues, the audio, the swaying camera, all great touches.
Great mood and very polished presentation (easing stamina and air when dying and for the controls information). I sucked a lot at it - seems the waves were too tiny for me to understand when and how to ride them ;-) Graphics and audio support the mood very well.
Seems a bit odd how quickly you begin to sink without any thing to hamper you, like waves or a weight on your foot. Definitely feels like a struggle though, which I believe is what you were going for. Good sounds and atmosphere.
Damn this is dark. I like simple mechanics like this but it seemed hard to get the hang of the timing. Great simple & effective graphics & audio too. Nice job!
Amazing game, loved it. Keep it up. I am new to unity, how should i run the source. its says its not a unity project, i.e it is not a project build. So how should i run it.
Comments109
It's like OPEN WATER - THE GAME!
I like how you rely on real-life advice about drowning for the player to understand how to play in order to survive longer. You didn't write "be careful not to drain your stamina for nothing, use the waves to avoid tiring yourself efficiently", you just explain how to _try_ to swim back up. It was great.
270.1
I gave up waiting for the inevitable, I started to get bored around ~300s, not my type of game I guess.
I felt the graphics and sounds were pretty good, the splash sounds and gurgling when reaching above the wave was a nice touch. There seemed to be a constant underwater sound, maybe you should have activated that and toned down the other sounds when going under.
One thing I thought about when watching this on streams, was that it was hard (for me at least) to tell if the wave or the screen was moving, the gradient background gives some clue to that but maybe some horizon would have made it more clear.
I wish that there was a highscores board :)
Very minimalist game, really nice aesthetic. I think possibly a bit *too* minimalist - in gameplay terms - for my tastes though.
Very good audio. It took me a second to realize that the wave timing was the level of the water relative to the screen/frame. Once I got that, I was able to ride them a bit and took slightly longer to die. The second go round was way better.
Consider putting this up in mobile app stores, if only for fun. High score bragging rights could be fun. It's a perfect touch screen game :)
I haven't had time to concentrate on the game. I'll definitely post a larger highscore later today.
This is a very great game concept (and the second one about drowning I've seen on LD)
PS: 114s.
Lots of little touches make it play very well - the "internal dialogue" and the juice. But ultimately a little more variety in gameplay or progression would have been awesome - and still can be :)
So many entries inspired by that le mer... Something ad. We know who reads Kotaku now, then :P
Couldnt get past the 60s mark, i felt like i didnt quite figure out how to ride the waves properly.
This game brought up some unpleasant memories from my childhood but the game is interesting. Nice work!
great work! looking forward to your next game. Thx for the postmortem
Took me some time to understand the the "waves" happen when the water goes up and down, since it's all a straight line.
Pretty fun for a game about drowning!
The splashing, the timing gameplay, and really everything. Once I got the hang of it, it made sense. Nicely done. :)
Great use of ambient sound.
No feedback for you, i love it as it is. Is the kind of game you want to play again to see if you can do better :D
I sucked a lot at it - seems the waves were too tiny for me to understand when and how to ride them ;-)
Graphics and audio support the mood very well.
Poor cold guy.