Don't be afraid of the dark

by lenan
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.38
Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.83
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.27
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.63
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.46
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.71
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.48
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.88
A "Horror" game where you control a character in a place where everything disappears after 10 seconds.

Tools used:
- Unity
- Visual Studio
- Audacity
- Replica Studio (voices created through TTS)

Afterthought:
Did i finished the game in time for compo? yes. Am i happy with the game i made? not really.
It was my first time tackling the horror genre so i think i failed miserably. It's not a good horror game and its not a good game overall. Usually my games have a great focus on different and unique mechanics, this game seems lazy when compared to most of my games, it has a basic mechanic and its focus on story didn't help. Also i'm not good writer so it just made the game worse.

I also learned that unity HDRP can not be exported to web.

Comments18

Clément K3 Oct 2022, 12:36
I really liked it! The audio samples makes it very intriguing. Could have been better in term of rhythm of narration, but the idea was great! And I loved the visual artistic approach! Well done!
Jackaljk3 Oct 2022, 12:36
I love horror games and I can confirm this quite doesn't do it for me.

But mostly it's because the ten seconds thing gets really annoying. I get a black screen for a few seconds without anything to do. Only once I heard noises on the left (during and after a black screen), which was cool and at least gave me something to worry about but was a bit spoiled by the fact that they stayed on the left even when I turned around.

Also I don't quite understand what the black screens are for beside fitting the theme. I didn't notice anything change, but I hardly notice details.

There's also a bug where multiple voice lines play simultaneously, happend 2-3 times. The narrator's voice can be improved too.

I love the visuals tho, despite some things being disproportionally large, like the bed. The music/ambience feels a bit generic but it fits. The other sound effects are passable.
Lenan
Lenanauthor3 Oct 2022, 21:07
@clement-k thank you for the feedback. Wish i had more time to fix the rhythm of the story.
Lenan
Lenanauthor3 Oct 2022, 21:11
@jackaljk Thank you for the feedback. I think i messed up the volume when mixing the sound effects for when the screen goes black, so it just got drowned by the other sounds.

If i can make the web version i'll release a post jam update fixing the audio and the bug with the narration.
Reed Gatfield5 Oct 2022, 01:23
Neat story horror game! The narration was actually decently well done, while the pacing and stuff could have been better I feel like the concept was very cool. I also liked the graphic style while it was simple, and the audio effects were a good touch. I wont go into the bugs already listed above lol.
Chartle
Chartle5 Oct 2022, 03:09
The audio was great, I'm not personally someone who plays a lot of horror games but for LD anything goes :) Pretty much all the criticism I have has been posted above, main one being the black screen thing.
Ale
Ale5 Oct 2022, 03:17
That was cool, and I actually liked the writing. It didn't really explain anything about where you are/why, but that creepy ending/4th-wall-breaking plot twist was great :P

Gameplay was simple, but it worked well for the type of game. Graphics too, but honestly since everything was already mostly black with white outlines, it didn't feel very creepy when the "lights" went out. I think a brighter style with the lights on would've made that part of the experience better.

But anyways, nice job! I enjoyed it
Gonzalol
Gonzalol5 Oct 2022, 07:10
Somehow it reminded me to Max Payne (in a good way of course). I found camera control a bit confusing.
LDJam user 281285
LDJam user 2812855 Oct 2022, 15:45
Wow it was an interesting experience :heartbeat: Mood is 10/10, I love this type of games that make you feel somethings and ask questions. And I really like the visuals! Hope to see more games from you in the future.
GordienkoGames
GordienkoGames6 Oct 2022, 12:54
Hey, I played your game on the stream - twitch GGame86

Please give my game a try if you have some time!
LDJam user 280624
LDJam user 2806246 Oct 2022, 19:17
It's atmospheric and has potential for sequel! Great job
Serxiolas
Serxiolas6 Oct 2022, 22:09
Liked: Visuals, cool voice, narrative.

I found some audio issues at the beginning as voiceover overlapped.
nullval
nullval6 Oct 2022, 23:52
I liked it, really incredible that you did it in 2 days. The ending was actually quite chilling. Very good work.
testsubject067 Oct 2022, 00:07
Horror games are not my cup of tea, but I popped in to say that it definitely had me on the edge of my seat. No more spooky stuff for me tonight :S
Cogent.Invalid10 Oct 2022, 03:07
The sound design was really good, the stark visuals worked well, and the tension of losing your sight every ten seconds was compelling - though I think for it to really work you would need to see glimpses of something moving through the level, or something else that gives you something specific to worry about when the lights are off. Or have things change in a scary way when the lights come back on.

The VO was nice, but probably too dense. I didn't hear the first four or so lines because I accidentally triggered them to play on top of each other. The horror side of things also works better when you're in silence.
cyberfrank
cyberfrank10 Oct 2022, 10:10
Good work for the short timespan! Please use .zip instead of .rar next time since it's more accessible!
Glink417 Oct 2022, 19:17
nice creepy work !
Hacktier20 Oct 2022, 21:15
Cool game. The game looks good and plays well. Nice work.

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