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The Abandoned House Down the Lane's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Spooky Greatness | #13 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Ranked from 21 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Which category is your game in?
La Petite Mort (created in under 4 hrs)
What languages do you participate in?
English
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Comments
I really want to like this (and the reviews on the IF forum make it sound really good!) but as a non-parser player I have no idea what I'm doing. A list of verbs might help? I couldn't seem to find any way to interact with any objects other than picking them up and putting them down again (save for throwing, which only seemed to work on one thing).
Also (and spoilers!) examining the faucet didn't do anything. Neither did turning it. I imagine I have to in some way break the floor in the kitchen first, but I couldn't find any way to do that.
Also also: the font issue isn't that much of a problem given that the engine has themes built in. Maybe just highlighting that would be a good idea?
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear you were struggling. This is helpful feedback. It was a 4hr game so not thoroughly playtested or optimized. I like the idea of a verbs list. Or at least I might publish the solution so people can check if they get stuck somewhere.
Now that it's Dec 1 I'm about to publish a post-jam version 2 with themes and an easier key location. But I think that won't even help in your case. Spoilers for the next step: I think what you were missing was taking the crow statue from the entryway and dropping it in the kitchen.
This was fun! And I agree with others, the font/colors may be hard for some players to read. But I personally didn’t have trouble and thought the stylistic choices were nice. So if you do opt to make it more accessible, go for something in this vein.
And the puzzle was nice. I got stuck for a moment, but eventually figured it out.
Nice. I haven't had much problems with the font (I'm a pixel-art maniac myself), but, yeah, you probably should revert at least to a non-italic one :)
PS: what about the mouse? Couldn't find any use for him, poor guy...
I wanted to add a way to switch fonts and colours, in case if the player would prefer a different look for readability or mood (I've done this in past games), but didn't think it was fair to spend more time on it for the jam. It's on my list for a post-jam version. Thanks for your feedback on this.
The mouse... (spoilers?) is just scenery! Part of the challenge in the game, it turns out, is actually just filtering through all the rubble and flavor text and finding out what actually matters... Sorry that may be disappointing.
Thanks for playing and for your comment.
oh, I was not disappointed at all! I liked the nice little guy :)
Loved the atmosphere! I got stuck with the same issue as Jacic - no other puzzle had required examining anything that wasn't listed in the object list, so I didn't expect to have to dig down into the descriptions. Great ending though :)
I really like the setting of this one, definitely has the old, rotting abandoned house vibe happening down pat. Unfortunately, I can’t work out where the key is so kinda got a bit stuck wandering around with my cup full of rather suspicious liquid that I’m fairly sure I’m not meant to drink. One little thing, the pixelated, italic text in red against black was a bit harder to read.
Ah darn, but thanks for playing and for your feedback. Can I share the solution? (Spoilers in the rest of this) It's hanging from the faucet in the basement (you need to examine the faucet—my first idea, but in retrospect, not very intuitive!). I should have just put it in the rubble in the entryway or something.
Ooooh, thank you! I didn’t think to look there. (I think I examined everything else in the house but mistakenly assumed once I’d turned it, that was its function.) I’ll try to go back and have another go later :)
"Spooky Adventure" sub-category