Skip to main content

On Sale: GamesAssetsToolsTabletopComics
Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
A jam submission

The Sorrow of SilkView game page

A game jam for Buddy up Jam Winter 2023 "Soft"
Submitted by Tiger Frog Games (@TigerFrogGames), MilesAndersonArt, Shannom (@twofish2fish), MetaArcade — 1 hour, 8 minutes before the deadline
Add to collection

Play game

The Sorrow of Silk's itch.io page

Consent to Promotion
I confirm that this game jam entry can be used promotionally by Budding Game Dev to showcase our team's efforts and Budding Game Dev events.

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Submitted(+1)

Well, that was a mood I wasn't expecting! I really appreciated the depiction of mental health and supporting each other. I didn't quite understand jumping the spiders, the hitbox of how to land on them seemed inconsistent. The negativity bubbles were a bit fast to read, which I guess is maybe the point that at some point you have to ignore it and rise above it? 

Developer

I do think we interpreted the theme in a bit of an unexpected way yes :D Thank you for the feedback!

I agree that the bubbles are a bit fast among other spider-related fixes, so it's probably going to be something we look into for future versions!

Submitted(+1)

The atmosphere was definitely very depressing which was part of the concept so well done on that! There were some issues that made the game difficult to play properly. The camera movement was really fast so it made it feel really jarring to look around, and the spider part had a very floaty controls so it made it very difficult to actually squish the spiders if you miss the timing of the first one, but very easy to be squished by the spiders. I also had issues reading the emails, as someone else posted. Great music and atmosphere.

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! Glad the atmosphere came through and we're for sure going to keep your technical issues in mind when we do revisions!

(+2)

I like the hikkikomori/emo story, you should use numb by linkin park xd 

Developer(+1)

adding this to my playlist of music to write to for this game :D

Submitted(+1)

Wow, what an unexpected game, it does differ a lot from the general jam vibe. Is nice to have those accessibility options and TW.
Liked the room environment, I didn't notice a graphic improvment between Low and High Graphics, but the Low Setting does a lot for the performance, that could be the only setting, or could be set as default. I have much feedback to give, some are suggestions, and others are more technical, I hope they'll be well received.
The chat messages were really natural, is believable and relatable. There are a couple of instances where the text shrunk so it would fit on the box, this should be the other way, adjusting the box size based on text amount, so it's legible. I know that might be a programming challenge for this time constraint.
The text displayed on the room objects were a nice detail, you could sense the progress the character makes and they evolution. Maybe the end isn't that impacful as it could, but the story overall is great. What I found later on the game was a lack on connection between stages. The concept is fine, a recurring nightmare, but it gets kinda repetitive. Variaety in level design is an option, powerups is another one. I would like to see that character progression- that we see while awake, having an impact in the spider stage. So the moth could also improve.
In regards of the spider gameplay, I think is really hard aiming to the right spot to defeat the spiders. Part has to be with the jump itself, doesn't feel right. But the spider collision is weird, we landed multiple times on the spiders' back, taking damage instead. It takes a long time to master the game, but even then, we still struggle a lot.
You did a great job bringing all this together, the game is inspiring.

Developer

Thank you so much for the highly detailed feedback!
Narrative-wise, I'll be sure to go back and revise the ending for more emotional impact. And we'll definitely try to make the text boxes scale properly + tailor the dreams to match the first person portion, yes.

Glad you were inspired by the game! Your comments are going to be super helpful in generating a list of fixes/design changes for future iterations :D

Submitted(+2)

I'm always glad when I see an arachnophobia mode in a game :) Also the content warnings in the page, it shows that you are considerate regarding the players!

Some of the tips I would share is that I miss a mouse sensibility option, my mouse was jumping all over the place :P But I understand if its not a top priority since the first person part of the gameplay is mostly for story purpuses.

Also I'm on opera GX and the game was working fine most of the time, sometimes there was a small freeze when bouncing on a spider so there may be a technical issue in the collisions or something else there.

Overall I like how you are depicting depression here and I think that introducing gameplay elements to depict intrusive thoughs is a very original way to blend in a narrative element.

Developer

Glad to hear someone made good use of the arachnophobia mode! :)

Mouse sensibility is great feedback actually-- I think we needed more playtesting from different devices to suss out all potential problems for sure, thanks.

(And as the writer/ a narrative designer, thank you for the positive feedback on the narrative design!)

Submitted(+1)

Oh, I really like this concept! The story bits are great at setting the mood and feeling to it, and so does the music and sound. I wish the controls were easier during the spider sequence, I get that it's part of the idea but at the moment I feel like it's mainly due to the jump not working rather than it being story wise. Also it lagged a bit for me to move around, but all in all I enjoyed this idea! Great job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the feedback, happy to hear you enjoyed the story and concept! The music was composed by one of our programmers and I'm still in awe how he was able to pull that out of nowhere :D

We're looking into how to fix the spider sequence so your comments are super valuable, thanks.

Submitted(+1)

Hiya! Cool game, I enjoyed the story. Some suggestions for a possible post jam release: More types of spiders would be cool to have I think! Spiders with multiple hit points, varying sizes and speeds, and more varied behaviors would be nice! More varied levels would be great, and I believe you have a really solid foundation for a game here. 3/5!

Developer

Spider variation in terms of hit points is not something I had considered but super interesting suggestion! Thanks for the feedback :)

Submitted

Hiya! Cool game, I enjoyed the story. Some suggestions for a possible post jam release: More types of spiders would be cool to have I think! Spiders with multiple hit points, varying sizes and speeds, and more varied behaviors would be nice! More varied levels would be great, and I believe you have a really solid foundation for a game here. 3/5!

Submitted(+1)

Great interpretation of the theme. I like the first section, all those little details and what main character thinks about them. Spider section on the other hand.. like others have been saying, it was quite frustrating and after third nap, it seemed to get quite hard. Of course, it matches the theme of your game. 

Developer

Thank you for the feedback, especially about the flavor text! :D
Gameplay-wise, we're looking into fixing the difficulty scaling for sure.

Submitted(+1)

Props for including accessibility settings!

I couldn't beat the spider level, Maybe the collider to squish could be larger? or maybe the spiders could be a bit slower? That's just me though, would love to experience the game further but can't due to not being able to squish the spiders. 

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! We had accessibility in mind pretty early on but I think the mechanics needed a bit more time than we had so that's something we're looking to work on in future for sure. Hopefully you'll be able to play a later iteration of it with smoother gameplay!

Submitted(+1)

Man, the feels. :)

Developer

:')

Submitted(+2)

Really beautiful game you guys made here! The writing was especially touching and relatable. I thought the first person segment of the game was my favorite. The spider section of the game played a bit wonky as I couldn't consistently stomp on the spiders. I appreciate the accessibility options yall put in too. This is one of those games that make me rethink what games can do if that makes sense. Powerful stuff yall!

Developer

Thank you so much! As the writer, that's very high praise and I really appreciate your feedback!