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When I'm Gone's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Design | #184 | 3.691 | 3.691 |
Ranked from 55 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
I like the overall atmosphere and tone of this game, even if there's no sound. It evokes a melancholic mood that really amplifies the experience. :)
As for the game play, the mechanics are interesting as a base, but the current implementation has some issues for me. First, the goal isn't communicated very clearly to the player. Second, the game play doesn't do a very good job at engaging the player because all you do is select text options without any feedback save for the very end. I ended up trying out different combinations but each time I failed, I felt disappointed instead of challenged because I couldn't really understand why I failed.
That being said, if these issues could be addressed I think this has the potential to be a very interesting full-fledged game.
P.S. Please consider giving feedback to our game as well! https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2018/rate/300343
Really neat design and idea! The art was nice and the decisions felt interesting (although somewhat hard to keep track of). It'd be cool to see this fleshed out even more!
This was pretty good! Having a definite end really changes how you approach "survival"... woah this is getting deep, back to the game...
It's a little bit hard to tell what my choices are doing - I think the bars at the top affect the epilogue, but do they affect the daughter's readiness? Does it help to specialize or should I have been aiming for a balanced skillset? I'm not sure how this would work, but it seems like a logical next step to have the player consider _what_ they teach the daughter character depending on the surroundings and challenges she is likely to face. Maybe some sort of scouting mechanic? Something to consider if you take this to post-jam!
Thank you, we are glad, that our game evoked deeper thoughts in you. After all, that's probably the main goal of this jam. :D
The inner logic of the game is something like this. Each action adds to outdoor, indoor, protect, gain. The bars at the top does not shows how many points you have, only which one has more than the other. That defines the survivel startegy, you are pursuing. For example, if your points are:
indoor = 5; outdoor = 70; protect = 25; gain = 38;
The game will estimate, that your goal was outdoor + gain = 108; because no other combination has more points. Then it checks if that number is enough for her survival or not. 108 > 85 (<-requirements) => She survived.
So in this case the main goal is to choose strategy based on the initial instructions and then go for it. :)
Really good game with some intense mood. I had a hard time to keep the daughter alive but it was still enjoyable. Great job!
I liked this a lot! The art is neat and the concept is interesting. I couldn't manage to save the daughter, though. I was making my choices based on most important things, but I guess there's other logic behind it? What is the numbers next to each action? Congratulations on the game :)
Thank you! The number next to the actions represents how long it will take in days.
This is pretty neat-- I like the art a lot. I love the concept most of all-- you know you're going to die so you're just trying to pass on survival knowledge to someone else.
Also "go off to die alone" is one of the best choice prompts I've ever seen in a game-- I know its a heavy subject thematically but that made me laugh (in a good way)
Keep up the good work!
I think this is closer to removing, or switching, something in the concept of the genre rather than a mechanic in itself (so, I agree with WojWorks). However, it is an attractive concept. Graphics are good. Background music could help to support the mood you're trying to give.
＿φ( °-°)/ We'll appreciate if you rate and comment our game: Slow Ride.
Very nice game, I love the visuals, atmosphere and challenge ! Only downside to me is that it lacks a "quit" button :D
Thanks for playing, glad you like it!
We've probably omitted the quit button, thinking ahead of a console release, where quit buttons are not customary ;)
I see ;) It's easy to forgot it anyway; happens to me from time to time as well. Especially when time is of the essence ! Take care !
I enjoyed playing this game, and I loved the way the game had an extremely dark atmosphere without having a soundtrack or real conversations between the mother and daughter. it somehow reminded me of "This War of Mine" though it's quite different. I only wish the UI showed the exact number of days we've got left. great job!
Yeah, we deliberately hidden the exact number of remaining days, as we wanted for the player to feel a little bit of tension from the uncertainty.
Interesting idea, I would love to get some clues on how to get her ready, like there are some bars that I need to fill in terms of knowledge or skill. I can't really put my figure on what genre this is, but I would say a text adventure if I have to guess? Like a text adventure without typing? Whatever that is, this is a very unique and potential entry. I would love to see this game being developed post-jam with more depth in the story. Well done!
Thanks!
In case you need the clues for playing - you need to pick a solid survival strategy (a combination of outdoor gain, indoor protect, etc.) and then aim for it. Every skill you teach her, or an item you get, will influence your position on the bars. You need to be ready to switch the strategy progressively, depending on items you're able to fetch. Clicking on the daughter shows an estimate of probability of her survival in a current situation. A hint is also given on less viable strategies.
In case you meant the clues would be useful in general - definitely agreed. In a jam version, we've focused on building and balancing the system. A post-jam version would probably be less obscure and would reveal more of the system's inner workings.
Really enjoyed playing, had to try it 3 times to survive!
Half baked, but great idea. More depth, more time to use, and some background music would definitely help this game
Thanks for the suggestions, but there should be guitar playing and sounds of the forest on the background. If you don't hear any of these, let us know.
Oh yeah, now I hear the sounds, but they're extreeeeemeeelly quiet :)
Ok, seems like a thing that should be more considered next time. We tested it only with headphones and never had a problem hearing it, but you are not the only one who mentioned the sound absence.
Maybe at least we could make sound on/off button. That way the people will know there is sound. :D
Very simple but has a charm to it.
Thanks! We tried to favor balanced gameplay over bigger variety in mechanics, so that the finished prototype ends up being enjoyable and fun. :)
I liked this quite a bit. It reminded me of two things: 1. thematically+visually it reminded me of Leave No Trace, a recent movie about a father (who is a vet) and his daughter living out in the woods when he returns home from war. 2. The single room/area survival reminded me quite a bit of The Gods are Watching. I think there's a potentially really interesting and moving tiny (anti) survival game here. I think it could be really interesting to incorporate bits of narrative into the decisions that you're making, dialog between the father and daughter. The one thing I'll say is the day cycle definitely felt a bit abstracted without actually having any calendar, and also that it was going down every 10 days also felt weird, because I'd normally expect it to count down the weeks every 7 days. Just some thoughts. Good job!
The movie seems interesting. I would check it out for sure. And when it comes to the The Gods are Watching, what was interesting, is that the game popped in the talk only once, after the jam was over and we discussed the future potential of the prototype. The game that we thought off many times during the development was much more obvious, The Last of Us. And that’s even though none of us played it. :D
More dialogue and narrative will be favorable direction for sure. The concept that we thought of was each chapter = different people in different environment. And after a while the survivals meeting each other, sharing skills and preparing for new obstacles in front of them.
Each action in the game consume time differently. It’s represented by the number in brackets. The number you are talking about is just approximate time, as we wanted for the exact time to not be present to the player.
Very cool concept, really nice look to it. Very simple to understand and play but has potential for masses of depth. Really enjoyed playing this for a few minutes and I'm sure I will be opening it again soon
Very cool concept, executed the theme perfectly. A little bit obtuse, but worth the play, and could be improved upon.
I really liked the game! Found myself replaying it a lot to figure out which items and choices led to which values. There's a lot of potential here for a bigger game, or a series of games. My fav so far in GMTKJam 2018.
Thank you. Being someone's favorite is a big honor for us.
Wow, very interesting twist on survival. It actually pulled at my heartstrings, even with how simple the game is. Well done.
A clever twist on the genre. As WojWorks said you removed a concept rather than a mechanic, but it plays well and feels like there's no "perfect choices" which gives it the survival feel for me. Would be interesting to see this polished up a bit more and filled out.
Thanks for playing!
Our take was that in a typical survival game, your survival is usually a highest priority goal and once you die, you have failed. Here, since your demise is inevitable, your motivations and actions are different, which we felt changes the core gameplay.
Instead of focusing solely on resource gathering, you need to pick a solid survival strategy (outdoor gain, indoor protect, etc.) and then aim for it, while being ready to switch it progressively, depending on items you fetch.
Doesn't seem finished, but it's an interesting concept. I do find that the mechanic you chose to ignore wasn't really a mechanic, more like a conceptual thing.
Thanks, glad you find the concept interesting! We managed to finish most of planned systems in time , so we're pretty happy with the result.
If you mean polishing, that could definitely be done infinitely, if we had more than 48 hours. Instead, we focused on balancing the various strategies you can take to survive, to make sure all paths are viable.