Play game
Uku's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #6 | 4.111 | 4.111 |
| Visuals | #14 | 4.556 | 4.556 |
| Overall | #20 | 3.889 | 3.889 |
| Fun Factor | #35 | 3.222 | 3.222 |
| Originality | #51 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
Ranked from 9 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?
Jordan Neff, Ben Comino, Jamie Stewart, Balaz Nagy, Evghenii Caraiani, Mxalice, Mario Rascon, MoonQz, Bhoom Tansirimas, Timur Fedorenco, Daniel Davies
Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/glowstick-gameready-pbr-554296392d2040f2b82757a73125fe30
Did you choose from one (or more) of the optional secondary themes?
Submerged
Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
No
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
This game is FREAKY!
When the first rumble came in, it scared me.
When the I first realized the glowsticks actually will go out, I shivered.
And when I tried to exit via the ladder and the game wouldn't let me (presumably because I hadn't gotten all the data?), and sent a chorus of demonic whispers into my ear, I got chills!
Overall a very cohesive, polished experience with incredible atmosphere.
Since this was so well made, I am going to give a bit more stringent criticism as well - all in the spirit of improvement.
First, remember "show don't tell". I was having a genuinely horrifying cosmic experience - confronting my basic fear of the dark unknown - that the characters in the game were supposed to be having, too. But they didn't seem freaked out at all. It was only on tape four that anyone even mentioned leaving. He finally sounded a little scared, but the voice acting didn't quite convince me - although it was well-delivered and recorded. Maybe a change of scenery - the woods with coyotes out? Actually get them scared.
And, write more than you record. Build up the backstory and lore of the deep, way beyond what's on the tapes. "There's something ancient here" feels like checking a cosmic horror box off. I'm not interested in learning more, because I don't believe there is more there. "We disturbed a pile of rocks, and found some bones and strange carved ruins underneath" - ok, what is that? What is that? I want to know, even though I don't.
Finally, narrow your scope a bit. There is one cot that has an untextured body on it. That really took me away from the game. I get that you were turning up the horror, with the bloodstains and the progressively worsening situation on the audio logs, and probably just ran out of time. But it would have been better with no body.
One other note. I think level design is key for this, obviously, with the (very unique & engaging) glow stick mechanic. There were a couple sneaky intersections that threw me for a loop, and one secret overlook of an encampment. A lot of the other areas were just copy-pasted tunnels. You had to add a proximity light, undercutting the glowstick mechanic, to help navigate it. Better level design, that guides your eyes and movement towards certain key landmarks and subtly away from the secret (in a telling way), would elevate the experience immensely.
Again, this is a great game and my criticism is only intended to help. Well done.
Wow, thank you for the very detailed response! Very happy to hear that overall you found it to be a good experience.
A couple small things to note - so the untextured body was actually a bug in the build process. The character models were fully textured and worked in editor, but somewhere in the build process it had an issue compiling the material shader. The fix turned out to be simply re-saving the material and it worked just fine on a subsequent build, however I only noticed the bug right after submitting so nothing could really be done since we didn't feel like it was in the spirit of the jam to upload a new build with the fix even though it would have only been slightly after the deadline and the option was still there. We will be uploading a build with a lot of small bugs and frustration fixes post-rating period though!
As for the level design I will certainly take your critiques to heart. Originally our team had a dedicated level designer and I was just the environment/props artist, however that team member unfortunately went AWOL within the first few days so my workload effectively doubled by having to not only create all the environment assets, but also create the level - something I have very little experience in. I think with more time I could have made certain parts of the level more uniquely identifiable, but sadly I just didn't have as much time to work on that aspect of it with all the other things on my plate. I understand with the low lighting it might seem like some tunnel sections were copy/pasted, but truthfully not one area of the cave is identical to another. I hand placed every one of the over-1,500 environment meshes that comprise the environment 😅
The next time I end up having to do level design within the confines of a jam though I'll definitely focus on trying to make key areas more visually distinct! Thanks again for the detailed response!
Hi Jordan,
Sorry to speak so harshly about the body's texture and the map layout!
I probably should have figured the body was a build issue based on the overall quality of the submission otherwise. May I ask, are there more than four tapes? And.. how many are through underwater areas?
Let me apologize for calling the layout "copy-pasted". That was spoken in haste and in truth I never thought that it was actually tiled, repeated, or anything like that. The layout was very identifiable, I guess what I meant to say is that a map which played more with distant lights and dark areas between to plot and plan a route to navigate from afar (like you're on a mountain ridge during a hike, say), would be more interesting. I say this only because there was one really good area, looking up a steep tunnel at the secret exit above a camp, that this was present in the game. It was a very compelling, atmospheric spot for me.
Again kudos to you and the team!
Hey no worries! I didn't take it as it being harsh or anything haha, just wanted to clarify that it was a bug and not a lack of time/over-scope thing.
There are 9 audio logs in total, so definitely more than 4! It's only necessary to go underwater for 3 of them though. It's a bit difficult to say how many underwater areas there are exactly, as a lot of it is all interconnected. There is one large research chamber that is only able to be reached by swimming, and that one in particular is where I imagine most people got lost and died, as there's one split where it's a dead-end to the left but the right goes to the research area. There's also one long interconnected underwater tunnel segment that is broken up into two areas where you can surface. It connects one of the research chambers you can get to without swimming all the way back to the main central chamber (where you can refill your glowsticks).
Again, no worries about your feedback, it's what the jam comments are for :) Besides, the level design is certainly far from perfect as I'm not really a level designer to begin with. I can completely see where some areas could feel very same-y, especially given the dark lighting. Thanks again for your feedback and playing the game!
Since the ratings period is just about over now I figured it wouldn't hurt to share what the full layout of the cave looks like.
Also, here are what the characters look like with their materials applied:
Fun to explore! The voice acting is of a very high quality for a jam game.
We really appreciate that :)
The sound and the visuals - very cool, guys!
Looks amazing! Will play it through once my PC is fixed but for look and feel seems like you guys smashed it out of the park!
The graphics were so good. Omg. The quality you guys were able to put on a week project is amazing, the sound design was excellent, and the story was intriguing. The voice acting surprisingly was excellent as well! Great job to everyone who participated!
Thanks for the kind words! I was able to watch a replay of your stream where you played it, which was very nice to see. Much appreciated!
You have a unique and atmospheric artstyle with realistic textures, lowpoly terrain and cartoonish outlines . I don't know how they work together so well, but you have pulled it off. Object outlines make the dark cave corridors possible to traverse while the more realistic graphics make the game more immersive. The underwater blur, missing checkpoint system and the long unskippable intro scene make it really unappealing to go diving though. I found a bug that multiple tapes can be played simultaneously, but the voice acting itself is excellent. Awesome work!