Atempting to create a horror game for our first game jam, but ended up telling a story worth trying and creating a fitting atmosphere in the process. Make sure to interact with everything you get the chance to, as the game is meant to be played over some attempts in order to understand how the enemies move and how the map is laid out. The game features some topics certain people might find disturbing, but in light quantity. The character and the story are purely works of fiction and do not reflect any real life behaviour.
I'm not a fan of the pixel art, but the main character looks properly scared and moves very nicely.
I would have loved to continue exploring the game and finding more notes - the story sounds interesting -, but after the third attempt of trying to get past the ghost (the third monster), I gave up.
Awesome game!! I love the pixel art and the music, it sets a cool environment, it kinda reminded me to house screen saver for windows! Ill say maybe try to make the guys a little bit more creepy and ill try to put more rules in the walls (as you did but more) or arrows in the walls, like dark souls do when you are learning how to play, sometimes it was too dark to see where I was going.
Good game, but thought the game was a short as meeting one enemy and then get to the end, or while went in the cabin and everything went black. Playing this is also too hard right at the beginning: enemies are too fast and have no time to react (ie. the flying ghost) Still graphics and the atmosphere is just great. Gameplay could be better - character rotation/moving is not smooth and worst is the layout scale, it is just too large - i can't see a sh*t but only the giant pixels!
We were going for a more enclosed view on the game in order to give the player some sort of anxiety and not knowing what will be in front of you next, as for the turning animation it is true that it could be smoother, but we were really short on time and we tried to get the game out as soon as possible to avoid last minute traffic when uploading
Hmmm, I like the presentation and the story, but I think the retrying is a bit too harsh. I understand it's short but it feels frustrating when I can't study the ghost's pattern for too long, for instance. And since it blindsides the player, that's hard to do too. Anyway, very good graphics though, entertaining.
Pretty fun. I liked the audio! Platforming felt out of place and unnecessary. Broke my immersion :/ but overall good. I like the design of the first monster and how its eyes glow when you're in the wardrobe.
Considering that some people can't seem to get past the first monster it says a lot about our way of doing the hiding place a.k.a. the wardrobe. The notes scattered around the map not only fill you in on the story, but some of them contain crucial information to your progression to the game. For instance, the first monster, as said in the note immediately near where you spawn in the game, can be beaten if you hide, in the wardrobe (the light going away when you enter it means that you are hiding). I will not spoil the way you beat the 2nd monster, I will let you realize it, as it gives you the chance to enjoy the story, as we intended it to be told.
Nice, I gave up after more than ten attempts to pass first ghost. I like the fact that it is difficult. Atmosphere that art and sounds make is just perfect! I have no objections! Great piece of work!
I didn't manage to finish (got up to the third enemy) but I had a good time! The atmosphere was very well done, I definitely felt a sense of urgency while playing. I do kind of wish there were checkpoints, so I wouldn't have to go to the very beginning at each death.
Creepy game! I like the art a lot, specially the lights. I just feel it needs some checkpoints to dont have to repeat the entire game. Anyways, good work!
I enjoyed this, i got to the 3rd enemy on perhaps my second or third attempt after i figured out the mechanics. This game is very fun and i'll definitely go back and play it a bit more later and try to complete it.
What kept me going is that I wanted to read the notes and figure out more of the story! I would have liked some checkpointing like previously suggested too :) You managed to capture the right atmosphere, for me, at least ;) Not too creepy but with some nice bits of quick reactions required. Well done!
Really good job with the atmosphere, the sounds and the expresion of the character really add to the experience. I wish there was some sort of way to avoid repetition by, for example, keeping the unlocked doors unlocked, to avoid doing the open the door- lure the monster- enter the wardrobe - up the stair- key- down the stairs - unlook door that gets a bit too long after doing it a few times.
Getting past the "sneaking" monster was really tense, so at least for me you captured the horror theme really well! I got killed twice in a row by the ghost and gave up :(
The game was atmospheric and moody in the right way for a horror game. A bit of spooky music would've been nice as well, but of course time is a limiting factor. I liked the game but gave up trying to beat the last "boss". I thought that i needed to make it there with the candle still bright, and I did, but lost anyway so i don't really know how to win.
I am a fan of pixel art and liked the sprites. Some of them felt disconnected from each other, likely because of the different pixel sizes. That's just nitpicking though and I did the same thing in my game. My only real critisism of the art is that i felt like the stairs should have a harder outline for the walking surface so that it communicates clearly that the player can walk there.
All in all, I enjoyed playing the game and the story notes were definetly fun.
Great atmosphere! I played it at night, with lights off for an increased effect. I like the writing as well. It might be a bit repetitive as you make progress
I really love how the game expected me to acquire knowledge of enemy behaviour by trying and failing over and over, without it ever being unfair. The mood was very sinister, but could have been underlined more with some additional sounds (also, the "player dying" sound was a bitt odd). The graphics were decent, but the main character's jump animation could be better, I think.
SPOILER AHEAD:
When I reached "the big one", I hid in the closet and he kept jittering around in front of the closet without ever going away. So I decided to heroically step out and get eaten. Was this actually intended to be the end? It felt more like I triggered some unexpected behaviour there.
@rkhadder@evert@ebediam@ranjan About the checkpoints... We didn't really take into consideration the game might become frustrating due to needing to backtrack, even though it was on the back of our minds that the player doesn't see the game through the same eyes as the developer. It is true that checkpoints would have made the game a lot less frustrating, but from a story standpoint it doesn't really fit and we tried sticking to our story as closely as we could.
SPOILER AHEAD! (For the people that find themselves a little confused because of the ending @gurkenlabs@ryzy27@invixel)
The ending is supposed to portray the idea that the character is stuck in the constant loop of dying over and over again no matter his choices, thus succumbing to madness. We didn't think some people would actually manage to dodge the final monster (which is supposed to kill you), but either way congrats on finding a hole in our game and telling us about it, we really appreciate the feedback.
The lighting is quite nice especially with the glowing of the monsters eyes while it is pitch black but the platforming seems a little out of place and trying to find where to put the third key while avoiding the ghost can be a bit frustrating but an overall nice aesthetic and idea.
I felt like a pro when I hid in the closet from the first monster. However I shortly thereafter fell to my death. A solid, fun and hard game. Nice job!
art is nice, it really set a scary atmosphere. I liked that you have to read the notes to understand what happens and what to do. I gave up pretty fast though, the level design with the ghost in the air was a bit confusing and i got tired of redoing it from the start. It was nice to play though, good work.
Nice game! I had a hard time figuring out how to get past the first enemy because I didn't understand what the wardrobe was doing (I thought it was a bug that it made the screen black :laughing:) Besides that, it was a bit frustrating to have to start completely over every time I died and I ended up quitting without finishing the game because of that. Overall though I liked it!
Nice work! I really like the atmosphere. I think it might help to allow the player to see a little farther in each direction, to give a little more warning of where an enemy is (even if the light didn't actually shine far enough to see what's around them, you would still be able to see their eyes).
I like the mood of this game a lot. The first enemy might be a little quick, but introduces you to the one hit kill that sets the tone for the game, well done!
Very nice! Reminds me of Lasagna Boy and Luigi's mansion and Neverending Nightmares- so much art here! Fantastic character design, and pretty solid gameplay. The only thing I want is a "going upstairs" animation- "going down" looked great- especially sneaking! Great job, and thanks for the game!!!
Comments36
I would have loved to continue exploring the game and finding more notes - the story sounds interesting -, but after the third attempt of trying to get past the ghost (the third monster), I gave up.
A suggestion - make the monsters move slower :) They are 2 fast for old bones ;)
I hope that I got the ending I was supposed to, but I won't mention specifics as to not spoil it.
Great job on a horror game. Cheers!
Loved the graphics
Checkpoints at every door would have made the gameplay significantly better
Great submission!
Getting past the "sneaking" monster was really tense, so at least for me you captured the horror theme really well! I got killed twice in a row by the ghost and gave up :(
I am a fan of pixel art and liked the sprites. Some of them felt disconnected from each other, likely because of the different pixel sizes. That's just nitpicking though and I did the same thing in my game. My only real critisism of the art is that i felt like the stairs should have a harder outline for the walking surface so that it communicates clearly that the player can walk there.
All in all, I enjoyed playing the game and the story notes were definetly fun.
I played it at night, with lights off for an increased effect. I like the writing as well.
It might be a bit repetitive as you make progress
Great work!
SPOILER AHEAD:
When I reached "the big one", I hid in the closet and he kept jittering around in front of the closet without ever going away. So I decided to heroically step out and get eaten. Was this actually intended to be the end? It felt more like I triggered some unexpected behaviour there.
SPOILER AHEAD!
(For the people that find themselves a little confused because of the ending @gurkenlabs @ryzy27 @invixel)
The ending is supposed to portray the idea that the character is stuck in the constant loop of dying over and over again no matter his choices, thus succumbing to madness. We didn't think some people would actually manage to dodge the final monster (which is supposed to kill you), but either way congrats on finding a hole in our game and telling us about it, we really appreciate the feedback.