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A jam submission

Themengi (Gamejam prototype)View game page

a text adventure without your language
Submitted by vgel (@voooooogel) — 11 hours, 24 minutes before the deadline
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Themengi (Gamejam prototype)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Design#464.2974.297

Ranked from 37 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

very good and interesting game i didn't go throw the octopus picture level put i enjoyed alot it's very creative you can go check out my entry if you pleased it will be very nice.

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Yeah the octopus level was tricky. If you want to give it another try, there's been various hints / spoilers for that level posted throughout the comments :)

(+1)

This was super fun and creative as a puzzler. Trying to experiment my way around the language was very entertaining, and it's fairly straightforward. Though I'd appreciate an inventory or maybe self-kept note function to remember words, or even a diary which I can flip through to view the notes, boxes, and words I collected. That way, I get a visual reminder of the word without immediately having the meaning given to me and spoiling the theme.

Developer(+1)

Thanks! I agree an ingame note taking system / diary would be super useful. I'm working on a remake of sorts for this game and that's definitely going to be one of the things I implement.

Submitted(+1)

This is probably the most creative game I've played for this jam, I loved this. The first few minutes I was getting kind of frustrated, but once you realize how it works, it's really great. I don't really have anything negative to say about this; everyone watching loved it too. Getting to the end was incredibly satisfying and I felt like I actually had learned a new language. Excellent work!

Developer

thank you!! and thanks for playing it on stream :)) i was so invested in seeing you get to the end i cheered when you got the final puzzle :) i had a great time hanging out in the chat too, I'm really glad i found your stream!

Submitted(+1)

So I just spectated/participated in this game while watching AggressiveCombustion's stream!  This was so much fun.

Developer

im so sad i missed it! gonna have to watch the vod

(+1)

I made an account so I could rate this game, it's so good! 

Developer

thank you! :)

Submitted(+1)

Super creative! I love the way that it actually makes you think and teaches you the language. 

Developer

thanks! making you think about the language was my goal so i'm glad it worked for you :D

(+2)

Best concept of any of the submissions IMO, very funny and could definitely be something interesting with a little more polish. Maybe add an in-game way of taking notes?

Developer

thanks! an ingame notepad is actually a great idea, will definitely add that if i come back for a v2 :)

Submitted(+1)

That's interesting and funny ! Good job !

Developer

Thanks! :D

(+1)

Hi! Great game, just one question: In the room with two small doors, I really can't figure out which words to use. I figured the only "up" thing was "thym" from the body parts poster, but I've already tried:

kithymrupuu kythengi, thymkirupuu kythengi, thymrupuu kythengi, thym rupuu kithengi, thym kirupuu kythengi, kirupuu thym kythengi, rupuu thym kythengi... etc.

Yet none of them work.

Sidenote: Why are some things capitalized, and some not? Shouldn't it be "Betzeming themengi!", which I interpret as "Look at the human!", or "Study the human"?

I was also wondering if you made up a whole language for this or just made these few examples.

In any case, great concept!

Developer (1 edit)

glad you liked it! i did make up a simple grammar and some more words then ended up getting used, but it's not a full language by any means.

for capitalization, i was a bit inconsistent with it but the commands should be all lowercase. I actually meant to have it ignore case but I forgot...


*spoiler*


for that puzzle, look at the box -- you need to open the upper door :)

(+1)

Oh! I'd say that wasn't communicated very well - I mistook the arrow for a keyhole!

Developer

yeah definitely, if i was to revisit this game some more playtesting and better hinting for the puzzles would be the top thing to fix :)

Submitted(+2)

Great twist on the text adventure concept, and the excecution is nice too. You teach the player just right so there was some "Aha!" moments in the last rooms. Nice concept made well.

Developer

thanks! glad the difficulty curve worked for you :)

Submitted(+1)

Games really should explore linguistic stuff.
It is like a metroidvania where you decipher meaning behind symbols and words

(+2)

ok, this was a blast. linguistic puzzles are a great idea for a game and one i haven't seen in games so far. haven't played all the 1200 other games, but think mark should really take a closer look here...

Submitted

"Missing Translation" is something like that. But it's "language" works a bit different

Developer

thanks! i agree not enough games touch on language :)

Submitted(+1)

Brilliant! Completed!

Developer

thanks! glad you liked it

Submitted(+1)

That was fun!

(+2)

This is an amazing concept! This easily has the potential to become a full game- maybe even with a real language instead of a fake one! Using language as a vehicle for exploration was really a good idea. Getting through those first two rooms made me feel like a genius! My biggest complaint would be the red herring of the purple monster poster. There were a lot of different ways you could interpret that poster, with one word being unused altogether.

Submitted(+1)

Really really cute. Especially the drawing with the little monster on it that grows huge :D

That's sadly also the place where I got stuck ;o

Developer

thanks! i liked that one too


*spoiler*


the poster is trying to teach you the prefix for small so you can open the small door :)

Submitted

Oh, of course! I managed to beat the game now. It was a really fun ride! If you ever were to expand on the concept I would be glad to play again :) 

Submitted(+2)

I enjoyed what I could complete, when I got to the 2 doors and the random body part list. I typed old codes and then I kept trying the different names on the poster and that didn't work. SO I don't know what to do next. I am assuming it's just me.

I typed "Rupuu kythengi"

Then it said "which one?"

and I have tried both doors now. Still nothing happens. 

Ps. Thanks for having me feel invested in a game, and I hope you can go try out my entry as well. Good luck.

Submitted(+2)

If you'd care to continue: the body parts try to teach you what left and right means.  Try 'bang rupuu kythengi' and 'dang rupuu kythengi'.