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Empty Shift's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #130 | 3.585 | 3.585 |
| Overall | #446 | 3.173 | 3.173 |
| Theme | #467 | 3.132 | 3.132 |
| Graphics | #478 | 3.321 | 3.321 |
| Game Design | #481 | 3.132 | 3.132 |
| Innovation | #487 | 2.981 | 2.981 |
| Fun | #624 | 2.887 | 2.887 |
Ranked from 53 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
It has a calm beginning, leading to a horrific end
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
I have written the code all by myself, and the story, characters, and the music are all by me, most of the other assets are from cc0 websites but some of them were made by me, for example the animated sprite of the main character was drawn by me while using a cc0 asset as a structure to not mess up the anatomy.
the websites which i got assets from are credited in game.
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Comments
I believe this game has a lot of potential if more time and effort are invested in expanding it. However, as it stands, it became repetitive by the second lab, where the same puzzle was reused. I really enjoyed the narrative elements—discovering objects, reading them, and uncovering insights. But by the third puzzle, which was significantly longer than the previous ones without a clear reason, it started to feel like a chore, even causing discomfort in my wrist. When I got to the fourth puzzle and realized it would require two minutes of rapid mouse clicking and intense hand-eye coordination, I decided to stop playing.
One thing that stood out as particularly awkward was the mixed control scheme. Using the mouse for movement but the keyboard for interacting, sprinting, and opening the inventory felt inconsistent and unintuitive. It would be better to choose one control scheme and stick with it—either a full point-and-click system or a keyboard-only setup. Mixing the two creates a jarring experience, forcing the player to constantly switch between control styles in a way that doesn’t feel fluid.
That said, I liked the nostalgic sound effects, especially in the menu, and the art was decent. The sprint mechanic felt awkward—having to press Shift and the left mouse button simultaneously for sprinting is counterintuitive. The default key layout was also unusual, with X and C for interaction and inventory, though I appreciated that you allowed key remapping for keyboard, at least—something many game jam entries overlook. I’d love to see this game evolve into a fully narrative-driven exploration experience.
Thank you so much for this awesome and honest comment!
ill make sure to come back to this game and make a big update with lots of overhauls and stuff as it was just a game i made in 7 days for this game jam that i didnt have time to work on lots of different aspects of it...
i will definitely read every comment in here again when the day comes to improve the game based on the feedback and also add on some new content to it!
I’m glad to hear you’re fired up!
Every name needs good movement and controls and this game definitely has that. The audio was also really good. Good Job
Gameplay is super nice and the controls are super nice keep it up!
So, I made my review in the form of a video review - Check it out :)
Thank you so much for trying my game and reviewing it! it means A LOT!
A pretty solid game. Only things that I didn't enjoy were that: the controls change in every new game(not a big deal but still), wished there was a button to stop digging trough the bin after finding the codes and wished you could go fullscreen. Other than that, the game was fun:)
im actually thinking of adding a button for that in a later update because i didnt have time...
thank you so much for this amazing review!
The game was great, and the audio was trully amazing and well done! I really liked the graphics too. There are a few things I’d change, like being able to move with WASD or having the option to enter doors and open the inventory with a UI button and the mouse, as someone else mentioned. Also, at first, I thought 'Go Out' meant exit the game and 'Keep Searching' meant continue—I might be wrong, but maybe changing that to something more intuitive would help. Just to clarify, even though I’m mentioning more suggestions than compliments, I genuinely enjoyed the game!
thank you for this amazing feedback!
yes i will definitely change that word to something better
A very polished game, not much to complain about! The only point on which I am a little picky is the fact of using keyboard keys when the majority of the game is done with the mouse. In general I am rather for limiting to the keyboard or the mouse when we do not strictly need both ^^
Bravo for this entry!
thank you very much for the kind and honest words!
although i respect your taste, i do think combinations of mouse and keyboard together add up to the liveliness of the game
but thanks! its nice knowing different mindsets and thoughts!
Nice game, the end got me lmao, it was overall good and I liked the fact you need to collect all the codes to open the lab doors! Good job!
thank you so much! it means a lot!
10/10 from me, I have the ability to control the setting, I can change keybind, the music is so fitting for this game, the gameplay is just so fun (my arm hurt but it was worth it), the menu is beautiful. I hope this game would win this jam
thank you so much for these kind words...it means a lot!
Nice game, well done. It was abit hard for me to read as the text type didn't make it easy. So I suggest a more clear text font would be nice, I like your story. It was simple but still interesting and I already new what to do from the story. I like the music too it was fast paste but much theme you went with. This game have a lot of potential to grow by adding diffent type of puzzles and level. Great job.
thank you so much!
At first I thought it was a rhythm game, since it felt like the papers were showing up when I clicked on them, but then I noticed that one would simply show up after I picked up an other, so there were always the door's number of papers available to click. It allowed for some strategy, so I could wait to pick up some, if there was a convenient cluster of them elsewhere. Also felt like a rhythm game cause the music is really energetic. It got my head bobbing.
Entering the door passcodes was satisfying too. Liked finding the bit of lore found right before an unexpected end.
thank you so much for this honest and kind feedback!
appreciate it a lot!
Loved how you integrated an aim trainer as part of the game's story. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks for sharing with the stream! Here's the VOD of your game: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2255286225?t=02h06m29s
thank you so much for playing it and having a nice time! it really means a lot!
im gonna try your game btw!
I almost didn't play this game because I thought it was horror but when I realized it was pretty much aimlabs I GOT SO HAPPY. I could not stop smiling while playing it was really addicting and I loved the music a lot!! Only thing is my wrist got quite sore because the last levels were quite long, but it was really a fun play. Entering the codes into the keypads was quite satisfying too. Overall really enjoyed it except the end, did not appreciate the jumpscare but overall amazing job!!!
im sorry XD
had to convince you that its not a horror game for it to affect properly!
Nice job! I like the music and visuals, and I'm always up for a good code-puzzle ^-^ I tend to agree with other comments about the paper clicking game, but my main thing is the controls - the click controls and keyboard controls don't complement one another very much; it would be really nice to be able to click the doors to open them, or to see my inventory by hovering the mouse at the top of the screen etc. (or to have it all controlled by keyboard except for the paper game) to make it more cohesive. Overall, though, good work :D
thank you very much for this feedback!
i will definitely think about improving the game with those suggestions in an upcoming update for the game!
Thanks for submitting your game to the stream! If you wanted to look at it again in the future heres the vod timestamped to your game
(and then part 2 of the playthrough)
thank you very much again for trying it and giving your thoughts!
i appreciate it a lot and enjoyed the stream as well!
I might skip rating this game unless I missed something, but I tried pressing every key and clicking every button and I can't enter any lab. I might consider playing this game again though, looks interesting.
uh...didnt the game mention that the interaction button is z? try dedicating it to another button in the games settings if it still doesnt work and try again...
if the issue still persisted, answer my comment and tell some more details about the problem and i might be able to fix it!
im so sorry for the inconvenience.
I tried it again and I could tell you more.
What happens is the key bindings show up as blank at the game start text.
Pressing Z, or any other key, doesn't work when standing near the first lab door, or any door.
Pressing X shows the list of key bindings, which show blank just like it does for me at the very beginning of the game.
I could provide a screenshot in case if you like of the game text showing blank key bindings.
It's very bizarre, I never saw such a strange issue in any game in this jam, and from the looks of it the issue might only be affecting me for this specific game only.
Since maybe it's not affecting other people playing this game, I might continue to skip giving any rating for now unless I could somehow get it to work.
Not sure what might be the issue, what do you think might be wrong?
normally this problem is because of corrupted save files not containing what key those assignments bind to
try and see if there are any files called save in this directory:
"AppData\Roaming\Godot\app_userdata\Empty Shift\saves"
if there is, delete it and open the game again
another solution could be you yourself going in options in the main menu and setting the keys up again which might work
let me know of what happens, i have to fix it if its an issue from the game!
interesting game, the visual is appealing also
sound design and art style is great! i found the core gameplay loop to get a bit repetitive, alongside that there were also 3 separate crashes that forced me to reset the game, but other than that, i really enjoyed this game and i reached the ending! the ending definitely was surprising! overall, this game was great. as I mentioned before, yes it got quite repetitive, but that doesn't mean it was bad! i found it quite relaxing and challenging actually, it was a perfect mix of the two. would love too see any future projects you make!
thank you very much! i appreciate it a lot!
can i know where you got the crashes so maybe i could fix it?
on door 2, 3 and 4, as soon as i would get the code i would go over to the door to try to input it and there it would crash
did you spam any key while being in front of the doors or did it just crash out of nowhere while transitioning to the passcode lock scene?
Very cool! I was very impressed as soon as I booted up, the game looks very good and the animation is nice.
I really liked the ending because getting through labs 1-4 you get used to how things go, so seeing the door just open after the code but the player not entering instantly made me fascinated, and I loved the--
thing that happens at the end(Not spoiling it for anyone who has yet to play)!That being said the game possibly demands too much time for the paper-clicking, kinda like porkrind commented, where perhaps it would be best to shorten the time and instead introduce a new mechanic/catch to increase difficulty.
Overall it was very cool, great presentation, and loved the one lore note!
thank you so much! i would have definitely made a better minigame if i had time and also a teammate who could do some backgrounds and sprites and stuff!
but theres a high chance i will come back to this game and try improving its minigames in the future after this jam!
The premise is intriguing and I like the side view of the labs. The presentation overall was also very nice.
I did found the paper clicking to be a bit of a test of patience. I was clicking everything fairly fast, but in the 2nd and 3rd room I had to play the room more than once to find the notes. I would recommend shortening the length it takes to find a note because 2 minutes without finding one is quite long to be clicking for.
Overall though I think you did great work on the game and it was nice to see some detailed story stuff!
thank you very much for this kind and honest review! i really appreciate it!
regarding the notes...they are supposed to be for players who dont go straight from lab to lab to finish the game, and who want to find more secrets, thats why i wanted them to be hard to find, especially after lab 1, the other labs require you to go back in them and search more to find those!