There is this really beautiful alignment between theme and mechanic here where I'd get one response wrong and I start worrying about whether or not I'm going to be able to get through the conversation at all and I start having anxiety about saying the right thing and I start second guessing all my choices and even the ones that I'm sure about I have to pause and think "is that right?"
I will say that I did get confused at first about how to produce the new symbols on the second conversation. I actually thought I'd get different answers based on whether I was using WASD, the arrow keys, or my mouse. Its hard to say what the right choice is because on the one hand I think spelling it out too much would kinda take away some of the mystery. Maybe having like a mirror or something that you could optionally practice with could work. Maybe I'm just an idiot. Maybe having to struggle to figure it out is the way to sell the idea.
Thanks for playing and sharing your experience! It’s really great seeing that our intended message came across so well. Wasn’t easy to get just right!
I absolutely love the mirror idea. In a full form version of the game I’d definitely explore how to integrate that somehow… but probably not as a straight on practice as I think this would break the “alignment” a bit… Gave me something to think about for sure, thank ya! =)
Almost too good, but the first ~10 minutes, i thought there was like a pattern I had to follow, not just remember which symbol was on each key. Still, felt really good to finally be able to solve them really fast.
Thanks so much for playing! You're not the first one who thought you had to press a key combination to make them happen. Glad you eventually managed to solve it, even though with memory rather than by cracking the pattern!
I played for like 30 minutes, but eventually quit when I noticed that one of the characters changed the key from where it comes from. I couldnt figure out why I wasnt able to get through what I think was the final screen after like 6 tries, but I guess that explains it. Was it supposed to be that way? I added the character below so you know what I'm talking about.
Hey Johan, thanks for playing and sorry you couldn't reach the end! The cross is a false friend - there's one cross which is "full" with a dot in the middle and the other cross (which you screenshotted) where the lines do not touch each other in the middle. It's the trickiest one of the bunch and has fooled a couple of people so far. Sorry it threw you off too much, hope you still enjoyed the experience!
No problem, I went back after Comfie's comment and saw that I did mix them up and it wasn't a bug lol. After that I was able to finish it! Yes it was super frustrating, but you really got a feeling of accomplishment after learning the logic behind it! I'll go give myself a cookie now ;)
Congrats! Interesting concept and vert very nice art! And the narrative hits where it needs to hit.
But I can’t figure out how exactly the mechanic works, I ended up doing it mostly randomly until I discovered the combination, I am curious how it works, care to share 👀?
Thanks so much for playing, glad it succeeded at conveying the feelings Spoiler alert, but there's an underlying pattern to the glyphs: find the common elements and you can get it right every time! DM me on discord/twitter and I'll spell it out more explicitly if you're still not satiated! ;)
Thanks so much! Tried really hard to make sure the game was solvable two ways: by understanding the pattern, or by memory. Seems players are sticking around long enough to solve the game so far, let's hope it holds up!
Thanks so much for playing! We thought taking away all instructions would be the most immersive way to replicate social anxiety. Understood it can get frustrating though, thanks for powering through!
Comments
There is this really beautiful alignment between theme and mechanic here where I'd get one response wrong and I start worrying about whether or not I'm going to be able to get through the conversation at all and I start having anxiety about saying the right thing and I start second guessing all my choices and even the ones that I'm sure about I have to pause and think "is that right?"
I will say that I did get confused at first about how to produce the new symbols on the second conversation. I actually thought I'd get different answers based on whether I was using WASD, the arrow keys, or my mouse. Its hard to say what the right choice is because on the one hand I think spelling it out too much would kinda take away some of the mystery. Maybe having like a mirror or something that you could optionally practice with could work. Maybe I'm just an idiot. Maybe having to struggle to figure it out is the way to sell the idea.
Thanks for playing and sharing your experience! It’s really great seeing that our intended message came across so well. Wasn’t easy to get just right!
I absolutely love the mirror idea. In a full form version of the game I’d definitely explore how to integrate that somehow… but probably not as a straight on practice as I think this would break the “alignment” a bit… Gave me something to think about for sure, thank ya! =)
A work of art that makes you connect to this social situation extremely well through gameplay.
Perfect abstract art, system and the audio also supported the whole experience.
So glad it hit the right chords with you Theo. Thanks for your glowing comment 🥰
Really good game! Communicates learning an abstract system very fluidly.
Thanks so much for checking it out! =D
Almost too good, but the first ~10 minutes, i thought there was like a pattern I had to follow, not just remember which symbol was on each key. Still, felt really good to finally be able to solve them really fast.
Thanks so much for playing! You're not the first one who thought you had to press a key combination to make them happen. Glad you eventually managed to solve it, even though with memory rather than by cracking the pattern!
I played for like 30 minutes, but eventually quit when I noticed that one of the characters changed the key from where it comes from. I couldnt figure out why I wasnt able to get through what I think was the final screen after like 6 tries, but I guess that explains it. Was it supposed to be that way? I added the character below so you know what I'm talking about.
You might’ve confused the cross and that, they are pretty similar :)
Yes you were right! :)
Glad to hear!
Hey Johan, thanks for playing and sorry you couldn't reach the end!
The cross is a false friend - there's one cross which is "full" with a dot in the middle and the other cross (which you screenshotted) where the lines do not touch each other in the middle.
It's the trickiest one of the bunch and has fooled a couple of people so far. Sorry it threw you off too much, hope you still enjoyed the experience!
No problem, I went back after Comfie's comment and saw that I did mix them up and it wasn't a bug lol. After that I was able to finish it! Yes it was super frustrating, but you really got a feeling of accomplishment after learning the logic behind it! I'll go give myself a cookie now ;)
super fricking good with great puzzle that once you figure out you feel like a genius
Thank you so much for playing and the kind words, means a lot!
Congrats! Interesting concept and vert very nice art! And the narrative hits where it needs to hit.
But I can’t figure out how exactly the mechanic works, I ended up doing it mostly randomly until I discovered the combination, I am curious how it works, care to share 👀?
Thanks so much for playing, glad it succeeded at conveying the feelings
Spoiler alert, but there's an underlying pattern to the glyphs: find the common elements and you can get it right every time!
DM me on discord/twitter and I'll spell it out more explicitly if you're still not satiated! ;)
This is a REALLY fantastic game and it makes me sad that players might miss the point of the mechanic. Very well done
Thanks so much! Tried really hard to make sure the game was solvable two ways: by understanding the pattern, or by memory. Seems players are sticking around long enough to solve the game so far, let's hope it holds up!
Nice graphics, but I could not understand the game from the beginning, I had trouble with what to press to "talk with someone"
Thanks so much for playing! We thought taking away all instructions would be the most immersive way to replicate social anxiety.
Understood it can get frustrating though, thanks for powering through!