Really enjoyed this! The flashlight mechanic was really well implemented and the hints of story in the tutorial passages work to show a wider world to the whole thing.
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Aberrations of Yg'Dalah's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #6 | 4.056 | 4.056 |
| Fun Factor | #8 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Visuals | #13 | 3.889 | 3.889 |
| Audio | #16 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
| Originality | #21 | 3.556 | 3.556 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video game
Was your game made solo or in a team?
Solo
Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
Some audio that are in the credits at the end. All artwork and code by myself during the time.
Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
I accidentally added Reanimated
Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
Nope
Comments
Really solid dungeon crawler. The tutorial setup was really well done for introducing the player to all of the mechanics. I thought the flashlight illuminating the true paths was a pretty creative twist on its use. Although I'm generally not a fan of flashlights and batteries in games, especially if combat is another concern, so I have to agree with @OzMaister on this one because I too often was wandering around without any flashlight battery left. It became both necessary to use in and out of combat between all the enemies and the constant hidden paths, and then it flickering as it got low made it even more difficult. I also encountered an unkillable 'doomfish' during my playthrough that ended up stopping my ability to progress any further. I ended up having to respawn as a new character, run from the doomfish to find a battery, kill my previous self, figure out where I needed to go, kill more enemies all while still running from the invulnerable doomfish so I ended up in a scenario where I would end up in a loop of doing this and dying over and over again making more and more enemies lol. Hopefully you can figure out what bug is causing that invincible doomfish because I'd really like to be able to make it to the end!
Submitted
Echoes of an Eldritch DesireThanks Jordan. I don't know if people are playing with the flashlight on at all times, as I cannot see how people are playing the game. I did update the WebGL version with double the batteries in the world (at least) to help accomodate that. Also I hope I addressed the enemy ai where after death they wave around the player. I haven't been able to reproduce the results since I also disabled their player detection on their death.
HUGE thank you for your feedback and I hope the game feels a bit more fun now.
The one worry about the player death spawning a new enemy is leading into a scenario that you describe about it getting too difficult at a certain point. I guess if I were to change the mechanics, I might just create a list of up to 1-3 new spawns and leave it at that maybe?
HUGE thanks for sharing that. It's nice to see someone playing in real time without me saying anything and glad that a lot of what I was getting across with the tutorial level played out how I expected. I didn't expect that much battery use of the flashlight during exploration, so that's poor planning on my part but I hope the doubling of batteries would help some.
Sorry you didn't get a chance to get to the cool stuff later on with the "Dark One" speaking to you ;).
I do see where I could remove some enemies in the earlier groupings to help the player ease in a bit more as well. I hope you had fun though!
Also I didn't think using "P" in the name would toggle the pause screen, so that's good to know as well...lol.
I love the "light reveals secrets" mechanic, navigating the dungeon with the flashlight is a completely different experience than without it.
Submitted
The Cosmos is Full of MonstersReally cool mechanic having your deaths become enemies, I think I ran into a bug after dying an immortal starfish was chasing me around. otherwise great work!
Submitted
ChromaThothThe flashlight mechanic is executed really well and the character animations are fantastic. The game fits perfecly on the theme of the jam. I had lots of fun, but got a bit frustrated with the flashlight. I got lost multiple times without batteries and the flashlight key made it uncomfortable to move while toggling the light. I suggest making the flashlight recharge slowly when not in use or make it flicker even more infrequently when out of power. The mouse already controls the flashlights direction so why not toggle flashlight using right click? The ending was a very nice touch though. Amazing job overall!
Submitted
CHUTLY and the artifact heistI'm sorry you felt a bit frustrated. I was using WASD primarily for moving around and F is right nearby. None of the other playtesters brought up the button press so it never came to mind. I should have added more batteries scattered throughout. It's a challenge to balance when I'm testing and burning through the space so fast. Thanks for your input, I'll implement a few things next time I work on the project. :D
The pixel art was really well made and animated. I enjoyed the level design and reading the story in the notes. The flashlight mechanic was also really great to see. Awesome work.
Submitted
Echoes From WillowbrookHaha! Such a neat game play mechanics in having your old self become an enemy! Great work on revealing how to play the game as you play the game. I found the player controls a little bit loose but that's probably just me being bad a playing games haha!
Submitted
Echoes of an Eldritch DesireGreat experience overall, I really enjoyed it! Atmosphere is on point and the flashlight mechanic felt really good with it, I found myself using it very carefully throughout the game. Got more than one unpleasant surprises and my a** handed out to me a couple of times (these are compliments, just in case haha) but after a few tries I managed to get to the end.
Congratulations!
Submitted
Eldritchild CareI absolutely LOVE the dash animation, amazing. Overall really cool game, with interesting mechanics and overall polish. Great job!
Submitted
Dim - The Lighthouse Keeper's TaleNice entry! I liked the feeling of walking through the unknown, really liked what you did with the lightning, and also the levels felt good. I find it a bit repetitive, i could not finish the game due to lack of battery and it was really too frustrating for me to go back in the maze to find another entrance when you have no lightning left.
The game without battery is really hard (i assume thats intentional) but i felt there were no safe room, for example i knew i could return back to the fireplace if needed health, but with battery i had no option but going blind. I would suggest that improvements to make the game easier and let people finish the game.
Overall really well polished and fun game. Good job!
Submitted
Eldritchild CareValid point. Maybe I could add an easier mode where there more batteries. The last section to open the big door barely got any play testing until after the submission was in, so I'll take those comments to mind if I do any edits to the game. Thanks for playing Ilbini and sorry to hear you didn't get to the end. I hope you had fun overall though.
Probably one of the coolest "flashlight" mechanics I've seen, I really had to reimagine the whole landscape.
It was a bit heavy on the reading at the start which made it feel a bit slow to me. After awhile I stopped reading them to make faster progress.
The resource placement was amazing - getting through tough encounters with nearly nothing, and then rewarded with some hp and energy!
Loved the latter half! (Act 2, maybe?)
Submitted
Bu'l"lyak'utThanks. Some of the notes at the start are tutorial elements to remind the players, some are side story/lore. It wasn't necessary for the gameplay, just a compliment.
Act 2 is the area with the "eyes" ;). Did you get to the very end?
And thanks on the flashlight mechanic. It was interesting building levels while keeping that in mind and thinking of how to change it up in other areas so it felt fresh each time. The end I wanted to have large areas that you absolutely needed the flashlight to get through...lol.
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