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A jam submission

Nether WhisperView game page

Submitted by steampunkprogrammer — 15 hours, 31 minutes before the deadline
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Nether Whisper's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall fun and playability#203.6003.600

Ranked from 30 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme incorporation
Cosmic horror is the overall setting, Ancient Ruins is both the space station and the eventual ending because the space station is very old even in the timeline that the player arrives in. and solitude because everyone else that would inhabit the space station is gone.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Nice entry! It sure have a good feeling to it. Welcoming and warm, like you want to be a part of it.

I liked that the replay ability does not force you to read all logs again. Not sure how many endings there were but I got 2 of them. Not much combat but lots of other stuff. Graphics is awesome and UI is simple enough. There is so few items used so it could have just been visible all the time instead. Sound is engulfing and spooky. I like it. The run through icky corridor so your heart don't blow up was a neat touch. And you did not over do it. The game could have been a bit larger and had some more objectives maybe, but over all very nice!

Submitted(+1)

A fellow Unreal Engine submission! Great job!

I concur with everyone else. I really enjoyed the way the narrative was presented and the visuals used; it was also a little difficult for me to figure out what to do next after the fire suppressant. I think that was a viewport shader used to give the 16-bit effect? Either way, looked really nice.

In terms of novel constructive feedback, I would probably say that I just wanted more things to do between bits of narrative. Without some combat, or more elaborate setups that needed to be solved, or even some cinematic stuff to mix it up, it started to very quickly feel like a walking sim to me, and I personally want more out of a dungeon crawler.

Submitted (6 edits) (+1)

Very cool and atmospheric.  It was a little tricky to find that turning on the right after the fire suppressant.  I even missed the turning to the air-lock in my panic  But it also added to the feel, and the map's not so big that it became a frustration.

I think I got all 3 endings.  1, 2 and is the 3rd just maxing out BPM?
Playthrough: Nether Whisper Pt1 by steampunkprogrammer

EDIT:  Got the third.  It might be an idea to make BPM death Ending 4 so people know how many endings to shoot for.

Actually, I initially wanted to set off the self destruct, but it wasn't easy to know I should have lead with the Stick.  And after you've clicked on the terminal, there's no option to back out of the Air-Lock ending.

On one hand, it's weird that I can't opt into that.  On the other, I'm not sure I would have got the Escape ending if I had, and I liked ending on the third ending, so maybe it's fine.

It's not in the playthrough, but on one attempt at the third ending, after activating the terminal to unblock the way to the self-destruct terminal, I tried doubling back to see if any of the other routes had been unblocked.

Submitted(+1)

First to the most obvious. Stunning graphics, great visual effects that ties into the story and feel of the game. I like the world building and the story. It’s spookiness.

There were so much great sound that I actually noticed and was a little disappointed that the log recorders didn’t make a little sound when you picked them up to read. Not a real complaint, but something to consider if you’re doing post jam fixes.

I like the concept of BPM health. I don’t think it worked 100% here though since the threat was stationary it didn’t do much more than force me to stay and wait for BPM to go down at times without nothing to do. That bit could be improved by having the return to normal go faster if you don’t see any of the growth. But the other part that could have solved it would be if the growth was hunting me in some capacity. Another method would be if you never hit the same low BPM once you’ve been over some threshold, but that has the risk of soft or hard locking some playthroughs.

The loot and interactions were quite intuitive. First I was a bit confused because the initial door was quite discrete so I hadn’t seen it so perhaps a bit of environmental hints like a flickering light around it or such might be beneficial. Subsequent doors I had no issue noticing.

I did miss the side way in the growth the first time around so got a bit confused about where to go next, but that felt kind of good in game. And my initial thought was that I had been scared and rushed through the growth tunnels, so it was probably in there somewhere. So that all made sense and made sense within the game world.

I must say though, with the exit I found. Though I think it is the responsible one and I’m happy with it… I didn’t really understand I was taking the exit when I did, so it might be good to inject some reflection from the protagonist to the effect of “Do I really want to do this? It will … Y/N”.

Great entry as a whole, really well made.

Playthrough: https://youtu.be/C7P5DdZhMXg

Developer

Very good feedback, yea the BPM stuff really didnt fully get fleshed out, I focused too long on getting the mood correct haha.

Def a few very clear thought out notes I can leverage in the next gamejam, I probably won't do post jam updates as generally I'm pretty busy but have blocked out time for jams I really enjoy like this one but I feel like there might be some worth here in doing a few post jam updates given I keep getting the same feedback on that hallway haha.

Submitted(+1)

Nicely done. I'd like to point out that the movement feels like there's some strange headbobbing going on as if you're jerked forward a bit further than you should be and then pulled back. It makes the game more disorienting than it should be.

Submitted(+1)

Amazing atmosphere, art style and sound design.  This is the best looking entry I've played so far, insane level of detail and depth to the environments, they really reminded me of the first two Fallout games, but in 3D.  Loved the pixel art - if that was all hand drawn it would probably have taken me the majority of the jam period just to put those images together!  Sound design was pretty perfect, the distant monster sounds effects every now and then really makes you feel like you're not alone.  

Navigation was quite difficult at times, I got lost not realising there was a dark hallway I'd missed.  These would be great for hiding easily missable secrets, but a small light source or something to show there's a way through would help to keep the player moving forward.  

The inventory system was good too, and having to search the environment for text logs and items was a nice touch.

Awesome and really impressive for such a short development time! 

Submitted(+1)

Great entry. The environmental design, pixel art and overall atmosphere are spot on for a spooky game. I did get stuck like Dashing Strike mentioned. but went back to play it again to get through. I don't have very many complaints, except maybe make that passage a little easier to see!

Submitted

Leaving this here in case it helps others: I got stuck for quite a while trying to figure out where to go after using the fire suppression system.  Spent a bunch of time seeing if I could hit the button and then run back to the biomass blocking my way quickly in case it was a timing thing (it wasn't).  Turns out there's a really hard to see (to me, anyway ^_^) side-passage between the room with the fire suppression system and the first crew quarters that leads to more stuff.

Submitted

Really cool, I love the look of this whole thing and the creepy feels.  A bit short, but that just means I had the energy to replay it (although I could only figure out endings #2 and #3...).  It was nice that the small things were clearly marked as clickable, but I occasionally found myself mousing over the whole screen wondering if there was something larger clickable I was missing (like the terminals), so it would have been nice if everything interactable had a consistent glow to them or something, unless that'd make it too easy ^_^.

Submitted(+1)

I had a really good time with this one and got all three endings! The graphics, atmosphere, and story are great!

I wish it were longer and left me wanting for more. Excellent job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, I spent a lot of time on the atmosphere and story to try and really hit a solid mood, and the length of it suffered for it. Maybe next year I can actually make a long game haha.

Submitted

I had a really good time with this one and got all three endings! The graphics, atmosphere, and story are great!

I wish it were longer and left me wanting for more. Excellent job!

Submitted(+1)

Wow, great graphics and atmosphere. Plays very well and has a nice inventory system. There were only minor glitches, when rotating the camera near "thicker"´walls. Not to nitpick, but is there some sort of battle system or character advancement? The heart rate system was cool though.

Developer

I wanted to do like a hide/seek system, it just fell out of scope as I tried to get the game to 'feel' right, next year I really wanna do a real combat system of some kind!

Submitted(+1)

Amazing art but by brain is square so i was never able to escape :(.

Developer

After you go through the first door with an ID card, there is a blocked way by biomass to your right,  check there after doing more 'tasks' :)

Submitted(+1)

the art is absolutely amazing, loved the sci-fi horror atmospehere and creepy sounds :)

got stuck for quite some time before i found an intersection in one of the "corrupted" passages but in the end found my way to becoming a tentacle-headed thing :)

great job!

Submitted

Amazing art, amazing ambiance, but I got stuck and idk how to go further which is sad bc I want to play more of this game!

Developer(+1)

After you go through the first door with an ID card, there is a blocked way by biomass to your right,  check there after doing more 'tasks' :)

Submitted (1 edit)

I like the PS1 style graphics but i don't really get why you cranked up chromatic abberation all the way up. I really hate that effect which they use in almost every indie horror game made in recent years. I have a PS1, those games didn't  look grainy like this! :) Anyway it's your artistic choice.  The handdrawn art in the cutscenes look absolutely gorgeous, main title art looks terrific too. I would have add cutscenes instead of showing the images in the dialogue but it would take extra time to do that so it's fine for the jam.

Game is very successful at creating the sci-fi horror atmosphere and immersing the player into the game's setting. The artstyle and ambience sound, sfx are spot on. Record logs are a nice touch to give player bits of information for the story, it's really cool. Perfect of use the jam's themes. Multiple endings create replayibility that's another pro.

What's really missing in the game for me is the combat. There should be enemies and combat in a dungeon crawler game. This game plays more like a horror game with grid based movement.  Even the most "walking simulator" type of horror games have enemies in it where you escape from them even if you don't fight against them.

Very cool game in terms of art and storytelling but i will give it 3 stars bcs it doesn't exactly play like a Dungeon Crawler and some post processing effects in the game really annoyed me. If it was a horror themed jam, i would have given 4 stars. My rating may change as i play and see the other games in the game jam. No matter how much i criticize the game, i think it's still a great achievment and  can be developed further into a very good game. Good luck!

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

Amazing art.  I got stuck.

Edit: I found the hallway that I kept missing.  Got ending 2. And then 1.

Submitted(+1)

I've got Endings 1 & 2.

I did not specially like waiting in real time for pressure to drop (yet it's far from foolish) but the atmopshere, graphics and movement feel notably good. Thanks for sharing.

Developer(+1)

fair, I tried to balance it so waiting would always be near a log to read so it was less of a pause of the game.

Submitted(+1)

Very nice atmosphere. The artwork looks great for low res. Some of the meshes will intersect the camera if you turn next to them. Well done.

Submitted(+1)

Great atmosphere, tight gameplay, good story.

Loved the pulse/heartbeat mechanic, that was such an original touch. 

I think you nailed the Solitude/Cosmic Horror theme really well. Loved the Waxworks references in the game.

Only did the one playthrough, got ending 2. I'll try to revisit it for the other ending once I go through some more games.

Developer

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy the weird mechanic!