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Endjoy's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Originality | #8 | 4.300 | 4.300 |
Theme | #11 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
Audio | #57 | 3.350 | 3.350 |
Overall | #58 | 3.357 | 3.357 |
Controls | #69 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
Graphics | #74 | 3.350 | 3.350 |
Accessibility | #88 | 2.750 | 2.750 |
Fun | #130 | 2.450 | 2.450 |
Ranked from 20 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Godot Version
4.3 dev 6
Wildcards Used
none
Game Description
Find ways to compensate for the void in your life and find joy
How does your game tie into the theme?
The loss of a loved one has left a void in your heart. Explore ways to enjoy life despite this loss.
Source(s)
n/a
Discord Username(s)
ee0pdt, spazticsquirrel, justaguyjustaguy, rtleone
Participation Level (GWJ Only)
1st time with this exact team
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Comments
OPEN THE GATE FOR ANOTHER BUILDING - I saw that on the horizon!
The game somehow reminded me on “Pretty best friends” but where is my best friend. :(
Well made intro, story is interesting. For theme I am not sure what is the connection void = end of life? Audio was very well again. Some sfx are too loud/low.
Graphics. Low Poly is what it is. But I think for that sort of game a nice home from an old person needs more. Some character to it. pictures from the past. from the wedding he is talking about. lots of little stuff he collected over life
Gameplay/fun I have to say walking simulators are not my case, so I can’t really rate them.
Controls and accessibility I had no issues. For me it was clear what to do and how to play. So no issues there.
Theme is hard. I am not sure if its connected or not. Def. interesting interpretation I see where its going. But he would have to die to enter the void, wouldn’t he?
Knowing most of you from other jams I know you can do better. As always jams are stressful I know so don’t take that personal. Still good job for your submission and nice team effort there!
Interesting take on the theme and as very nice UI (expected with rtleone - although some rough edges here and there - square boxes and images overlapping / note: not complaining just surprised)
The controls and the gameplay left me wanting a little more, running around clicking on all the items after selling one did not fill me with Endjoy - glad there was only three days. I liked the audio narrative but as other mentioned it interfered a little with other sounds and made you want to sit and listen which let the void catch you.
Overall thanks for submitting it was fun.
What a way to close out the night; appreciate the kind words, Anonymyst! My UI contributions were limited to the splash screen, main menu, and HUD this time around, so very much grateful for our lead developer's placeholder work that I wasn't able to get to due to limited availability around writing / producing the dialogue. Our guy Pete was the glue that filled in all the holes. 🛠️ (I spent twelve minutes looking for a glue emoji before realizing it doesn't exist)
Can't wait to play your entry this weekend!
Thanks for the review! Yes we fully own up to the rough edges around the places. We couldn't deliver fully on the vision for the game as the chosen mechanic required far more assets than we could produce in time. Did we set an ambitious goal? Yes. Was it too high? Yes, but I'm happy that we stretched ourselves on this one. My experience of my team-mates is that they never seem to go for the easy option - instead of taking shortcuts everyone wants to push for something higher. Take the music for example, there are actually six layered tracks that are faded in and out to respond to the player's level of joy. The narrative audio was a late addition and we had to invent a way of triggering the story at intervals and I resorted to hacking the item code to play the sound, this wasn't ideal as the items played audio through the SFX rather than the Dialog bus and also via a 3D audio stream. So you are quite right to identify the shortcomings in that system!
Appreciate the comments, when you take the time to give comprehensive feedback like this it really helps
This was a interesting narrative game. I like the exploration of an unconventional story and genre. The story was great and I really like the theme of learning to let go. The gameplay was a bit shallow and maybe a little too easy. It seemed like you could just sell one expensive item and have access to all the other items. But considering this was made in only a week I think the gameplay is a fair trade off for the story. The only real issue I have is that the audio is a bit off: The narration is played through a spatial audio node. It probably would've been better to have a just a normal audio node. Also the audio at the game over/win screen is way louder than the narration.
Thank you. This is all valid feedback. Appreciate you playing and taking time to make a proper review.
I will tell you honestly, I was avoiding this game for days now because I was afraid of the subject matter. These topics can ruin me completely sometimes. Yet your game is not depressing. It is interesting, well made, you found clever ways to put in game mechanics.
I also want to mention that this is one of the few entries that uses 3D and it doesn't stutter, lag, freeze, crash. It runs smoothly. (I don't do 3D, so I cannot criticize anyone, it is just a thing I noticed that a lot of 3D games are not well optimized. Yours is.)
Small things as feedback:
But overall a ver cool game, thank you.
thank you for those thoughtful comments. The initial story was terribly depressing but my wife called me out on it and gave me a framework to work from (she's a trained counsellor and works with a bereavement charity). Luckily we listened to her and adopted a more hopeful approach where the void never goes away but it can be managed and overcome by personal growth.
I think the 3D performance is much better in 4.3 - we are using the dev preview and the web builds are certainly much better than older versions.
Your request about subtitles is 100% correct. I have a subtitle system I built that works for short sentences but nothing that can handle long monologues of the kind we used this jam. Something for me to sort for next time. Thanks again.
Wives are amazing. Mine was my harshest critique and made my game better.
Looking forward to updates.
Very unique and creative interpretation of the theme (and also quite a clever pun for the title)! Especially love the small touches to the loading scene and title screen design!
Its cool to hear voice acting in a gamejam! With subtitles and ability to read the diary entry, the accessibility would be better!
Thank you! Glad the story resonated - and you got the pun! We have an extremely talented UI creator on team and his menus and titles are always fantastic. I do wish I’d managed to incorporate subtitles for the narration. As you say, that would have helped the accessibility. Thanks for playing and taking time to leave a thoughtful review
Very unique and creative interpretation of the theme (and also quite a clever pun for the title)! Especially love the small touches to the loading scene and title screen design!
Its cool to hear voice acting in a gamejam! With subtitles and ability to read the diary entry, the accessibility would be better!
Very unique submission, glad I had the chance to play it. Was cool to experience a slice of the characters life through the narration.
I did run into a few bugs that broke the gameplay a bit, but it was still fun to zoom around.
It's also always nice to play jam game that's fully voiced.
Oh, sorry about bugs, what did you find? We were not aware of anything except issues picking up items if player is not fully aligned?
The main one was that I was able to sell items multiple times (selling didn't close the menu or otherwise prevent from selling again) for infinite money.
And I'm not sure that it was a bug exactly, but after buying the two items in the garage I could just use those two forever to finish the game.
Ha, good catch! There is a delay in closing that window and that was something I never got around to checking.
Very interesting idea that puts you in the shoes of a character and life situation that most wont have to grapple with being in. I would have liked if the game leaned on this concept harder by putting you closer to him or even first person so you could live out his reality; I think a common third person zoomed out perspective is less immersive to being in his shoes. Was surprised to see music and 3d art and voice over in a game jam submission, no glitches noticed either. Overall unique experience.
Thank you! I agree about the immersion, and being closer to the character, I did not solve the problem of automatic camera angles in time, that would have improved things I feel
Very interesting way to go about making a game about the idea of the void - the presentation is very clean, and although the voice acting is a little awkward at points, it ultimately works out very well. The controls feel awkward at times, and i think that the gameplay could be presented in a clearer way, but there's something to the idea that to win the game you have to have the right mentality, that you can't just sit there and reminisce but actually do something to honour those memories, and ultimately, enjoy yourself as you accept the ultimate void. Very interesting, thought provoking entry.
Thanks so much! You’ve really understood the message of the game and graciously overlooked the shortcomings to appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to play and leave your thoughts. It means a lot to the team that you do that.
I totally love your interpretation of the Void. I like the way everything becomes brighter with main character mood's rise)
There is a very big potential in that game.
I wish there will be subtitles to the notes or a diary, where all the notes you found will be placed, cos I'm bad at taking things with just listening.
A very good point about visuals/subtitles. I had a subtitle component ready from a previous jam but it was rather useless as it could only cope with a single line of text and these were quite long monologues compared to previous. With time I would have used an animation track to handle multiple lines
wow, that idea is really nice!
I made him happy again :)
You guys really succeeded on creating a thoughtful narrative and interesting concept. I felt confused by the gameplay mechanics, but this feels like a sincere and soulful commentary on loss and "moving on".
Thanks! That’s good valid feedback. Glad that the story came through. Appreciate that the mechanics were not clearly explained. Thanks for playing and leaving feedback.
Really original concept and I appreciated the thoughtful design. The menu art is excellent, though I found the UI and 3D art a little inconsistent, and the sound and voice over were also well done.
Thanks! Really appreciate you playing and taking the time to leave feedback. Sometimes one person in the team kinda takes care of the art direction over the UI and graphics and I think it really helps with the cohesiveness - I realise we didn't quite have anyone playing that role this time. I probably take the blame as the lead dev! As you say the assets from the creative parts of the team are all stunning. I am honoured to work with such talented peeps
Wow this hits right in the feels
In a way this is probably the best theme interpretation in this jam
Very thought provoking if a bit sad, also nice 3d models and I loved the voice acting
Thanks! It's always a risk to deviate from the literal interpretation of the theme and I'm glad it has connected with you. Really appreciate you taking time to play and rate.
This was beautiful.
I absolutely loved the inner monologue of the character - it was raw and authentic. And the interpretation of the theme is really good and thought-provoking. And the message of the game, too.
The game really needs some more polish with the mechanics, but man, it makes you feel something, it makes you think.
It's the highest of compliments that a piece of art made someone feel. This was absolutely the intent, and we're so glad the experience resonated with you. Thank you for this amazing comment. Johny!
Thank you for the lovely comments. This was my first foray into emotive story-driven gaming and I'm really glad the team had some prior experience to bring to the table. Totally get the point about the mechanics, I am to blame for that ropiness, kept chasing the concept of the game every day as I got more feedback and realised the original story (which ended into a total bleak despair no matter what) was a rather unhelpful way to look at loss. So we switched up to a more hopeful approach and the mechanics suffered from a lack of polish.
really appreciate you playing and taking time to give feedback
One of the few 3d games for this gem, great 3d assets, and great take of the "void" theme.
Appreciate the kind words, Dap—thank you for checking ours out!