Between the Lines

by markus

co-authored: @erik-brendel, @potti

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.90

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.66

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.55

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.34

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.97

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.04

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.68

Slip into the role of an investigator in Between the Lines and dive deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Newport.

Have Fun :)

Tools

* Unity
* Jetbrains Rider
* Photoshop & Gimp
* Blender

Known Issues

* Cursor images do not always work correctly in fullscreen in web version

Changelog

#### v1.1
* Add letterboxing and correct layouts for non 16:9 aspect ratios

#### v1.1.1
* Fix some document overlays not closing when clicked outside the document

#### v1.1.2
* Prevent error (and subsequent web crash) when accessing the first hint in some cases

Controls

arrow keys, space/enter, or mouse dialog navigation
M opens the map
N opens your notes
click on relevant bits of text to learn facts

If you're stuck, press H to get a hint.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Blender, GIMP, Unity

Comments28

Tiseno27 Apr 2021, 17:36

Got stuck after the ruins/woodstock, really wanted to finish this but I tried everything, any pointers?

Really engaging, only thing missing was some kind of ambient music, I listened to some medieval tavern music while playing :)

Solid mechanics, a LOT of content, and nice easter egg ;)

Potti27 Apr 2021, 18:16

@tiseno you should always be able to press H to get a hint, if not, please tell us what your notebook says about lord woodstock and the ruins at that point, we might have missed something when writing this.

Yeah, music and sounds would have been nice, but we had to spend quite a bit on the narrative and worldbuilding, as this story-heavy stuff was new for us.

Thanks for your feedback!

Valid27 Apr 2021, 18:46

Nice on getting that heroku app name hah. One suggestion would be to keep the screen tinted when you open up the journal, not just when your mouse is hovering over it. It was a little distracting seeing the screen tint change pretty fast by just moving my mouse. The lantern was awesome in the library, although a little distracting that it was movable when looking at a book. Great work from your team, thanks!

profan27 Apr 2021, 19:05

I finished it! I put on some medieval tunes in the background with it and I really enjoyed it, good work getting this done on a jam deadline, this amount of writing on this deadline doesn't seem like it would be simple :eyes:

Would have loved some music, but with what you have here, I totally understand that there is not :)

Tiseno27 Apr 2021, 21:52

@potti Doh! Totally missed the H hotkey, stupid me. Second playthrough managed to finish with only two minor hiccups when I was supposed to go back to the library and read more, and when I was supposed to ask the King about help to lure Woodstock. Encountered a small bug that didn't let me click away from the ancient ruin texts, I needed to travel to another destination and back to read the other ones.
Great game!

Emurga27 Apr 2021, 21:55

Great story, music would have been a plus but it's a jam ;) Great work !

The tablet seems to no work the same way than every other clickable items (I had to use the esc key instead of clicking somewhere else)

Potti27 Apr 2021, 22:18

@tiseno @emurga Thanks for the feedback on the stone tablets, I knew we had to break *something* when changing layout stuff...

eharp27 Apr 2021, 23:20

Nice work! This is very detailed and polished. Lighting was great, and puzzles were good too. Adding music would definitely improve the overall feel.

There were a few moments where I wasn't sure what to do next, but I was always able to figure it out directly. Probably the biggest point of confusion was how to access the books in the Woodstock house. Overall, great work!

SoftGround28 Apr 2021, 01:48

Great story, found it very creative

LDJam user 24278728 Apr 2021, 08:04

I enjoyed the story and art style. I think the game could have used a but more commination to the user. Other than that the game was very polish and I thought the lighting was a good addition.

FcValise28 Apr 2021, 08:07

Really solid art direction, the overall experience feels great and polished, Nice work !

DoctorTM28 Apr 2021, 12:42

Nice jam! The art style is good. Missing some audio. Good job on the story :)

Jaco van Hemert28 Apr 2021, 14:53

I enjoyed the game. There were one or two points where I couldn't figure out what I needed to click on (e.g. the one book in Woodstock's manor), but I managed to figure everything out eventually. The "H" function gave me an error in the investigator's house, so I avoided using it throughout.
Anyway, cool game. As everyone has already mentioned, some music would have been nice, but so be it!

Erik Brendel28 Apr 2021, 19:49

Can you tell us what error specifically you got, @jaco-van-hemert ? Maybe we can fix it :)

karlipoppins29 Apr 2021, 04:14

Really awesome entry! I love how you created such a deep story, the mechanic of seeking clues, traveling left and right to make progress. Like others have mentioned, a medieval tune would have been outstanding, and perhaps a bit of sound effects when the player figures something out, giving a bit more rewarding feedback to signal that the player is making progress. Otherwise I really loved everything about this, I'm actually quite curious about how you pulled the light effect in the ruins, that was really cool!

heidelbert29 Apr 2021, 08:25

Finished it without using hints and I have to say, WOW!! This is my new favorite entry in the jam. How did you get that done in 3 days? Cool graphics, multiple very interesting gameplay elements, a story, a great discovery mechanism. I am blown away.

Ironfred29 Apr 2021, 08:38

I love how much effort you put into the world building and narrative! Well done, the graphics also look super cool.

kr0s29 Apr 2021, 08:40

This was a very nice mystery game, and I also managed to reverse the cleansing light. Very interesting.

miej29 Apr 2021, 08:44

Potti29 Apr 2021, 09:37

@miej thanks for the feedback, we'll investigate the issue.

Update: @miej @jaco-van-hemert this should be fixed now

Rujum29 Apr 2021, 10:44

Your game is awesome, i love the way the epic tail snowballs from an investigation.
The "H" key helped aboid a frustrating experiace.
Flawless!

Jaco van Hemert29 Apr 2021, 13:36

Indeed, @potti ; it seems to be working now.

Potti29 Apr 2021, 19:45

@karlipoppins we used the Unity Universal Render Pipeline and its 2D lighting, in combination with pixelated normal maps generated with blender. Then we just attached a lamp sprite to a hinge joint, bolted it to the mouse position and added a light.

Hadi Jiwani3 May 2021, 07:12

wow how did you make an amazing job like this in just few days really impressed @potti Nice jam

Hadi Jiwani3 May 2021, 07:12

all categories deserve 5 star

Yaroslav Kravtsov3 May 2021, 19:14

Totally masterpiece! I was engaged to go deeper and deeper in your story. I had to press H only two times and it helps me stay in the pace.

Hobzone10 May 2021, 15:55

I was impressed to find a game in a jam with this kind of storyline. It was really cool to dive into it !

Denzil Gomes14 May 2021, 13:50

Very good writing and nice little touches like the notebook bob when you get a note. Sounds would take this to the next level but other than that this is the best written game I've played in the jam. Great job!

Other games by @markus

jam

Circular Dependencies

★3.66

co-authored

★4.00