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Legitimate Bomb Removal Training's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #2 | 4.333 | 4.333 |
| Innovation | #10 | 4.238 | 4.238 |
| Overall | #119 | 3.651 | 3.651 |
| Theme | #243 | 3.619 | 3.619 |
| Fun | #252 | 3.476 | 3.476 |
| Game Design | #312 | 3.429 | 3.429 |
| Graphics | #877 | 2.810 | 2.810 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
In what way does your game fit the theme?
You are running through the dark looking for bombs as an insane teacher makes it more and more difficult.
Did you write all the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
All code was made just for this. Some audio assets were bought with gold license from Zapsplat.com, title screen graphic was purchased from Rexard on Gamedevmarket.com
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Comments
Very cool nonvisual game, never thought about something like this before.
I was pretty confused about the turns sometimes as it seemed like sometimes I should turn towards the sound and sometimes I should turn away. Also when right next to the bomb it was not clear to me which side of it was on so I would just twirl around and step forward a bunch.
Oh yeah I realized the tutorail was too short based on some feedback!
The beeping simply means you're at an intersection. If it's in your left ear, you CAN turn left, if it's in your right ear you CAN turn right. But neither mean it's towards a goal.
The ticking of the bomb can be tricky though, since you have to listen for if it's behind a wall or not. I made it sound different if it's behind a wall, but I think I need to make it sound even different!
It was a great submission, very innovative!
I couldn't quite grasp how much I should listen for the bomp's ticking and how much to pay attention to the beeper, that's the main flaw for me. It was pretty distracting, because sometimes i heard bomb on the left and beeper in the center. EDIT: When I restartet I listened carefully and beeping is about corridors, my fault...
Also, maybe the timer should be longer, to let the player learn the topology of the map.
Also, a good idea would be to show the player the topology when the game ends.
I always wanted to make games playable for the deaf people, and I think this could be one!
Great game, good luck!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I've had several people mention they lose track of the beeping meaning, so I think that's probably on me throwing it in too off handedly. I've got some ideas for next one!
Showing topology probably isn't something I would do in game, because it would make the experience for blind/sighted gamers be different! Which I'm trying to avoid. But in a previous jam I actually made blind accessible maps that came in the install file that people could use to cheat if they struggled and people seemed to adore it.
So I might tinker around with having the game create/make it accessible after a level, or even something you can unlock?
IDK, that's a trickier one.
But thank you so much for your feedback!
It feels like a text adventure game but with audio instead of text. Good job!
Awesome game! it's really fun and whacky to play!
Some of the levels were really hard, and it took me a while to get used to the gameplay
Just one question though: what am I supposed to rate in graphics?
Haha I've accepted my fate of 1s and 2s :)
My favorite result in another jam I did was I #4 in audio, and #102 or something in visuals.
What an interesting idea. I've definitely never played anything like this before and you've done a great job with this game.
Oh I'm glad you liked it! It's a very interesting way to dev games.
This concept is so much fun. I love this idea. My only real complaint is that I would like to look at something a bit more appealing than the slats of wood.
But definitely a great job!
Haha that's fair! I try to put up like a pretty title screen, but I ran out of time so went with "ghetto sign", I was trying to find like a cool abandoned warehouse looking thing but couldn't find one I liked. But will remember that!
Thank you so much for trying it out!
Thanks for the comment and for giving audio games more visibility in a bigger jam.
In general, I really enjoyed how natural the text-to-speech sounded, and the voice lines are implemented very well. Maze games really aren’t my thing, so I got turned around quite a few times before bouncing after Level 5. The biggest thing that confused me was not understanding when the bomb was ahead or behind me. Possibly you could exaggerate the filtering more when bombs are behind walls, and use the current amount of filtering when they’re behind you. I did enjoy the minimalist sound design overall; something that could make the spaces feel more natural is applying some stereo processing to the mix like a gentle reverb or binaural effects that bleed into the other ear.
There are some great suggestions below about solving the more game design-oriented challenges of onboarding folks and level design; it’s not my expertise, but something you could explore in a future build.
Nice work!
Oh thanks so much for your feedback! Yes right now there is no difference between behind/in front like you called out. Making an exaggerated filtering for behind walls, then a mild one for things behind you sounds like a wonderful suggestion, and just thinking about it I feel like it'd be natural to turn around if you hear something muted around you. But hey, beating level 5 is a long time to hang on!
Ooh just a gentle reverb onto the other ear would be good to give the impression of it bouncing off the wall on the other side wouldn't it? I'll have add these to my list of things to try in games!
For the reverb: absolutely, it can be as sophisticated as you want! Hard panning is pretty rare in the real world. Sound naturally reflects, and our bodies and minds are tuned to pick up on what it tells us about the space around us. There are plenty of tricks like switching reverb impulses when entering spaces of different sizes or materials, or adjusting early reflections when near obstacles just as you describe. For a project like this I’d personally keep it super simple, but adding acoustic realism to game environments in general can certainly improve their accessibility for all (who can hear it).
Yep thank you!
I'm doing a bunch of jams with different navigation mechanics/attempts so I can eventually make a larger project with a decent navigation system. So feed back that would be appropriate for a bigger project is still super helpful.
It's a unique concept, something I haven't seen in this jam. It's a bit too hard for me and I think for a reason you haven't accounted for. For example, finding a bomb behind the wall was the most difficult task for me meanwhile finding out a bomb in space took me few seconds (The game describes them as the opposite). I think this is because:
- I don't know what the different sounds of walking (ground) mean. Is it just different to make more variety? Does it mean I'm facing a wall and don't move forward?
- I know the game explains at the start what does beeping means, but honestly, I didn't remember. Not sure whether you should attempt to fix something like this for a jam, but I think this knowledge might be useful in the future.
- Deciding whether I'm going forward to the object is easier while using the headphones than deciding whether I have moved far enough to turn around.
And also, I feel like the game at the start poorly explains movement.
Overall I enjoyed the game. It's well made, as always there is a bit of room to make it a perfect experience.
Oh I completely understand. I actually spoke to some people about these issues, but some of the fixes are a bit more difficult! I'm guessing with the forgetting beeping you suffered the same fate as testers where your brain started to filter out the different noises because they were so constant in some levels. Happened to me too once I noticed! Not sure how to fix that one, so I probably need to play other Audio games and figure it out. Other audio games probably have more in between navigation sections and give peoples ears a break, so it might be as simple as that.
Audio games are a whole nother beast I'm afraid and this is me learning. I'm glad you still had a fun time despite the difficulties!
Oh I will also say, you make a wonderful point towards an idea I have.
I hope to make a much larger audio game, and your feedback just makes me more certain that I almost certainly need two modes of guide. One like this, where it's the beeping/indicators/ect., with the other being a more hands on approach from your guide, telling you which way to go, which was are interesting things, which way are objectives. Because honestly, it's hard to jump into audio games.
I make the silly things and I go play a random audio game it takes quiet a bit to understand anything, and some games I beat just by spam running into walls XD
Yeah, the audio games are rather niche compared to others but they still can make for a fun experience.
I wanted to go more about beeping. I think what you should look for is some way to remind the player about the mechanics easily, for example by having the proper tooltip on the screen. Typically in games like this, you introduce mechanic after mechanic slowly. In your game, this was done to some extent, but not really to walking and beeping. If you would separate these two as different levels, then it would work just fine.
For example, one level for walking until you go to the wall or something, then you will hear an explanation of what does this sound means.
And then level with beeping in which you have to go toward the spot. Then the game would explain what does this beeping means.
if i hear "ooh that looked rough!" again I may cry XD
On a real note this game is legitimately the coolest thing ive seen so far, love it!
<3
Oh thank you so much!
Yeah it takes some getting used too, audio games are nothing something most of us have an instinct for. It makes me really happy to hear that you're having fun!
Yea first time ive seen an audio game like this where its purely audio! I had to close my eyes and try map out the game in my head hahah
This game is really cool and unique.
Interesting concept and game
i'm french so don't understand all the narrative but nice to meet you jeff :)
Interesting idea. Good experience for inducing anxiety
Haha let there be chaos! And anxiety!
Cool voice!
Oh thank you!
It's text to speech, but I've found a nice collection of decent sounding voices that are much better than the generic ones window provides. I hope you had a fun time!