Bellophobia

Здорово, атмосферно. Свет от прожектора очень понравился.

The game takes you with its atmosphere, but strong energy and complexity in control prevents you from enjoying the process

Intriguing little treasure hunt game. I liked the graphics and audio - I felt pretty immersed (pun intended). The art in particular gave the game a nice atmosphere. It was eerie and dark and murky with garbage, treasure, and bones, etc.--all nice touches. It took me a little to understand the gameplay - at first adjusting to the movement mechanics and then figuring out that the claw required both mouse buttons down at the same time and in the same direction (open/close). That struggle is probably just me not getting it, because once I did, it really was fairly simple to control. Most of my time was spent trying to figure out how to get to the second bell location. Once I got that figured out, I proceeded to... die? Is that just the end, or did I lose?

In any event, a really fun concept, right on for the theme, and very well executed. Great work!

This is really good, especially if it's your first time. I really like the spooky atmosphere/mood.

Very strong vibes and atmosphere. Art is well done and the game is very well polished. Overall really cool.

Some critique for good measure:
1. Please put screenshot with the controls on this page too. It's hard to remember everything at once and you might end up needing to reload the game to see the controls again.
2. Why W/S is inverted?
3. It's not obvious that skeletons and other stuff is just background. At first I thought this is an obstacle and avoided it.
4. The claw is absolutely unnecessary clunky to use.
5. Hard to navigate because of background and foreground mixing.

@nicekot thanks a lot for such feedback! W/S is inverted to make controls harder xd

Atmosphere is the best. Sound is great. I collected 2 treasures, but couldn't find what next. Maybe it lagged for me, idk, I found controls to be too clunky.

​You have a great concept there, but it suffers greatly from difficult controls. I see that you were trying to experiment with controls, which is a great thing-don't get me wrong-and game jams are all about experimentation. But you need to remember also not to make the player alienated, or you will risk losing them right out of the gate. Also, if I am not mistaken, the game lacked any real opposition or lose state which removes all the pressure that gets players to act right and quick. With that said, congratulations on submitting your game and don't let what I say discourage you, instead take it as feedback for your next games.

@outish thanks! Every game is a step forward to do better at next i guess :D

@deepshark That's the spirit :muscle:

Interesting mechanics, I couldn't get used to the controls for a long time. The duck didn't give in to grabbing it((

Cool screen with description of controls. Interesting controls, submarine feels good, almost like a simulator, but up and down could be more familiar. The atmosphere is perfect for immersing into the game, and the music and sounds add a sense of depth. Thanks for this game!

Two things that would make the controls way better: give players an option to reverse up/down, and make the claws faster. Overall I like the light beam and games mood, it's pretty similar to what I tried to achieve, and the sound effects are good as well. Nicely done!

@milkiway @jtap @aleksey-salion thanks for the feedback! With that many words about controls I'm gonna do more fluent and user-friendly controls in future

I like how I could explore the depths despite the darkness but it could be better if the craft were more responsive in almost anything it does.
Another thing is I wish there would be easier way to tell which object is solid and which isn't without bumping onto them.

Sorry for double post.

The atmosphere is so cool! The artstyle combined with the lighting and sound design really make the game so engaging and mysterious. As many pointed out the controls could use a lot of work, they are not very intuitive and a bit clunky. With that said I did really like the engine mechanic how you speed up/slow down. Very cool entry overall, good job!

Интересная задумка, но как будто слишком медленно всё происходит для меня ^_^ Собрал первые два сокровища, но потом не понял куда плыть надо.

Но сделано хорошо, если поработать над динамикой, будет очень хорошая игра ^_^

Very nice, quite similar to what I wanted to do. I even envisioned a claw-collector before scrapping the idea for being too clunky.
A separate light for the claw would be nice, as it's hard to see what it's aiming at once you get deep enough.