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The Bitter Trail's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art | #13 | 4.286 | 4.286 |
| Music | #18 | 3.810 | 3.810 |
| Theme | #21 | 4.381 | 4.381 |
| Overall | #24 | 3.944 | 3.944 |
| Originality | #71 | 3.619 | 3.619 |
| Gameplay | #77 | 3.095 | 3.095 |
| Is the graphics 1 bit? | #104 | 4.476 | 4.476 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
It's nice, even though I didn't finished it because I ket getting lost, it's really well done
Thanks for checking our game out!
Fantastic visuals and sound, chef's kiss on that dithering! I liked the perspective and footprints, and also the way you portrayed trees with shadows and stuff was actually pretty cool. The main problem is that the game effectively requires exotic map knowledge to actually beat (or at least in a timely manner), as I completed events out of order and wasted approximately 10-15 minutes walking around and backtracking to finally trigger a dialog that didn't fire the first time I was in the area. Also after I found Curt's car was gone I left through the east gate and walked through a large empty field (which I had already walked through twice) and could not seem to win or anything. Shrinking the map would be a good play, but also playtesting outside of the time confines of a game jam would allow you to hone in the map and objectives to be "just right" for new players.
Thanks for playing and we completely agree with both of your suggestions.
The whiteboxed level was initially larger, when we weren't quite sure where we were going with the story and we did have to massively cut it down by the end of the jam as we were narrowing down on the plot & also having to descope other gameplay/story elements.
As you wrote, with such a large level, we did shoot ourselves in the foot a bit in terms of playtesting ; the less confined your game is, the longer it is going to take to thorougly playtest and we did eventually run out of time.
Incredibly interesting horror game!
I would say the map felt a little too large and difficult to navigate.
Otherwise excellent sound effects and music, and gorgeous visuals.
I definitely agree on that! I was too ambitious with the placeholder map before I found I wouldn't have the time to fill it properly. Thank you so much for playing!!
Nice game with pretty intense atmosphere. Didn't manage to finish it because horrors are not my cup of tea. But still game looks and feels great!
We appreciate horror is not everyone's jam. Thanks for giving it a go regardless!!
Very cool project, but graphics are not 1-bit
Thank you! I can assure it is 1-bit graphics however. This effect was achieved with a dithering post process which results in pixels being on or off in a scattered pattern. It's very good at translating gradients and other subtle details with the illusion that it isn't, but it is quite literally 1-bit.
Unless I messed up somewhere, feel free to zoom in on any part of the image with a colour picker and you should only see two colours in use.
Very tense, atmospheric horror game that has some neat ideas. Unfortunately I think I might have broken the sequence of events and opened the gate without finding the car first, which ruined the magic a bit for me. Definitely would love to see more from this team!
Thanks! If it is any consolation, it does sound like you experienced most of what was to be experienced.
I really wish I could share the opinions of the lads in the comments... But for me, there never was a monster anywhere, no sign of it coming and no interaction with it, I just walked for a couple minutes and then it said "thanks for playing" :c
Oh :( - I do find if one B-lines (not saying you did on purpose though) the monster will likely never catch up. That's definitely something that could have been improved and valuable feedback. I don't know if you fancy replaying it but it basically follows you by sound/footsteps and looking back will be a surer way of encountering it.
Absolutely massive production for 1-bit jam. Some minor bugs, but the overall product is incredible. Perfect palette choice and the dithering shader trick works like a charm! (I'm a godot dev, where can I find it?)
Thanks! I'll have to setup a small GitHub project to share it, but the generally speaking, the dither shader is inspired by https://sambigos.itch.io/godot-dither-shader with a few personal touches.
Didn't expect to be so immersed in a jam game. Everything's done really well and I love the creepy monster following you around. The sound of the game was done really well. Nice work :)
Thanks! We admittedly missed the mark at bit in terms of level design & mechanics, but we did spend a fair amount of time & effort on the immersion/atmosphere so glad to read that aspect was well received.
Really impressive blend of technical and artistic accomplishments. I did find myself wandering for longer than I'd like to admit, so maybe just a little more help for those of us who happened to walk right by things without realizing it xD Incredible what you completed in the time limit.
Great game!
That is completely my fault! I made the level too big, hoping to give you lots of ways around the monster and adding more breadcrumbs of information, but as you'd expect, as time was running out we pivoted on adding more gameplay elements or working on the mood and I never got a chance to scale it down or guide the player much better. It's actually my first time doing any proper level design and I've learnt my lessons!!
Thank you so much for playing, really appreciate it!!
this game is awesome!! i almost though you used grey but no its just white and black pixels, realy good!
1-bit & perception of dithering/print can be quite quite fascinating really. I actually had to double-check the dither post process shader I wrote half-way through the week because I thought a bug had crept & I was outputting more than two colours ; but no, that was just an illusion & it fooled me too.
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We also experimented with different colour pairs before sticking with this one (inspired by the Playdate display), which were interesting but ended up giving the illusion of three colours (dark purple & off-white is a good example which gives off the illusion of an additional yellow colour)
Anyway, thanks for playing & for the kind words!
Really cool game I got lost a couple of times but I like it a lot
Really like the art and the sound effects! The atmosphere really makes you feel like you're in there, wanting to escape.
I liked the atmosphere and the visual storytelling, managed to get jumpscared once or twice.
I'm so glad we managed to give you jump scares, like being funny, it's something hard to do on purpose without feeling forced. Thank you so much for playing our game !
This is pretty cool. I got lost in the southeast region of the map. A mini map would make life a bit easier :)
Thanks, a mini map or some more defined/directed regions of the map would have definitely helped! Something to add to the post-mortem.
i ve got lost too))
That's fair criticism, we wanted to make the player feel lost amidst the snow / fog, but letting the player get completely lost was not planned / good game design on our part.
Thanks for getting lost in our game though :) !
Can I borrow your artist for the next jam? I didn't think it was possible to do so much with just two colors. And the sound design... I got chills when I heard that door creak open. Love it!
Thanks! We weren't really sure what to expect at first, but overall we are quite pleased with how the combination of simple hand-drawn illustrations and post-processed dithering turned out..