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Stranger At Home's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Devlog | #3 | n/a | n/a |
| Theme | #9 | 3.571 | 3.571 |
| Audio/Sound Design | #16 | 3.214 | 3.214 |
| Overall | #20 | 3.014 | 3.014 |
| Art Style/Visuals | #26 | 3.286 | 3.286 |
| Innovation | #27 | 2.571 | 2.571 |
| Gameplay/Fun | #32 | 2.429 | 2.429 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game Engine / Tools
Unreal Engine 5.1
How does your game fit the theme?
Due to a quarantine you are trapped alone in your apartment.
Self-made stuff
Graphics / Art (e.g. models or textures)
Audio (e.g. music or sound effects)
Assets (e.g. free or owned)
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Comments
GAMEPLAY
The game effectively conveyed a sense of isolation, which aligns with the theme. However, it became somewhat repetitive over time (for me at least), with actions feeling a bit aimless as I tried to progress through the day. A lot of reading etc. But probably also the purpose of the game to give you that sense of lonely etc. And I died of course several times :-)
ART STYLE / VISUALS
The graphics were well done, contributing positively to the overall aesthetic and vibe of the game. Grim and dark.
AUDIO / SOUND DESIGN
The music and sound effects were appropriate and added to the game's ambiance, particularly the morning voice, which enhanced the experience and the creepy and I also liked the radio :-)!
INNOVATION
The game was not particularly innovative in terms of gameplay mechanics or features.
THEME
The theme of isolation was effectively and strongly integrated into the game.
Overall an effective game for this theme and job well done for the mechanics šŖ!
Played and rated!
I played the game and I died after 3 days from a nuclear bomb dropping? I'm not even sure to be honest, I was doing kind of ok xD
I liked the atmosphere and the vibe of being isolated was well captured.
The core gameplay loop seemed too slow for me as I had to wait for the server response to progress most of the time. I couldn't handle the bars properly, seemed like I was always chasing one bar dropping. I did a no smoking playthrough, maybe it played in making the bars management more difficult?
I think I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have to worry as much about the bars and focus on the weird things happening as we progress in the game, as I really liked that part. I wanted to understand what was happening better.
Overall nice submission on the quarantine theme!
Thanks for playing, rating and the honest criticism!
I am not sure what nuclear bomb you are talking about to be honest lol. If you died after day three it might have been the eye-monster shooting its laser at you? Did you die suddenly or was one of the bars expleted?
The core gameplay loop really is too slow, I 100% agree there. I wouldn't make the game much easier though, only faster or with less downtime, because otherwise it becomes too much of a themepark ride in my opinion. I think having that little bit of resource and time management contrasting having to avoid the monsters there leads to a few funny (to me) and stress-ridden moments lol
The game was damn creepy and the isolation couldn't be more visualized than this in 10 days! Well done!
But the lack of settings and repetitive gameplay were the main things I had problem with. Other than that the game was completely fine.
I tried to get into it, but really quickly grew more bored than my character seemed to be, with nothing much seeming to happen. I mean, eventually thereās a few creepy things and writing on the walls and such, but I couldnāt figure out how to advance the plot and it seemed to come far too slowly. It was also confusing that reading seemed to do nothing but increase my boredom? After running myself to exhaustion several days in a row a giant eyeball killed me and gave me sweet, sweet relief. Was that the intended loop or did I miss something? I donāt have it in me to play it again, but if there was a video walkthrough or something I would totally give it a watch on 3x speed to see what happens cause I was really curious where things were going!
I guess thereās a major genre mismatch for me personally here, Iām both an admittedly impatient ADHDer and I think itās basically impossible for media to actually scare me. I think in general the atmosphere and ideas were pretty solid, I just ran out of any incentive to actually care to keep my character alive. āI never was aliveā, why am I obeying what the voice is telling me? The game itself is partially what convinced me to stop trying to keep my health up. Reading your devlog I guess I very much did not actually do the expected thing š The hand that came out of the screen happened so quickly I didnāt even realize I could dodge it, same with the eye laser, which spawned after I relaxed on the couch and had killed me within seconds, with no indication it was doing anything dangerous.
Iāve gone back and tried listening to the song for clues, and as someone who has trouble understanding lyrics already they seemed pretty covered up by the instrumentals. Trying my hardest to understand, all I know is either do or donāt push the button? which of the buttons? or did they say something about a bucket? Itās cool knowing the effort you put in to the sound and music. If you ever upgrade to Komplete 14 (or 13 i guess), Noire piano might be really fun to play around with for weird creepy atmospheric piano effects.
I hope this doesnāt come across as overly negative, ultimately itās nitpicks and a desire for slightly faster pacing. Itās obvious the effort and care that was put into this and I think itās definitely something to be proud of š
I think you're 100% right in that things drag on a bit too long, I have combined ADHD as well so in hindsight after all the pride from having a finished game has worn off that was the first thing that I noticed too. Things only really start happening from day three on and I think if I update the game after the jam I would probably cut day two altogether and skip to day three. I'd also make the minutes go by faster. It also doesn't help that I have a RNG spawner that decides whether or not you just get a random sound event or if it spawns an enemy. So some playthroughs end up having no monsters at all. Also something I would change to be a bit more deliberate so there aren't as many downtimes.
Reading by the way only reduces your boredom early on, the more you read the same book the more boring it gets over time and at some point it'll make you more bored. I figured that's how it would work irl so I implemented it that way. Kinda to give the player something they can use early on but not rely on the longer the game goes.
The intended gameplay loop is for you to earn money, take care of your needs, avoid the monsters and then survive to day 7. I originally planned for people to just keep on dying and observing which activities do what and which stats interact with other stats. Like hunger and thirst will decrease your energy and health if you let it get too low, boredom will make you hungry and thirsty faster, exercising will make you smelly, etc. Slowly finding out how to balance all the stats so that you can survive till the end. My testers were able to survive after a few attempts but I get that it's frustrating to learn especially early on.
The hand is just a thing you need to learn from. If you stand far enough away from the PC while interacting with it, it isn't able to hurt you. That whole thing with the eye being able to spawn and attack you while you're doing an activity is an oversight honestly. It never happened during the tests because of the random nature of its spawn. Usually it gives you just enough time to break eye contact if you react fast enough. As soon as the laser charge sound starts you got four seconds before it fires and it takes about ten seconds for it to slurp back up into the ceiling again which is when you're safe. I think in hindsight I would also make it so that the charge up charges down when you break eye contact instead of just pausing and resuming, because that's also one major complaint about the eye I've been hearing these past days.
Regarding the secret ending, there have been some other hints I've hidden within the game (especially during the 6th day) that would be able to point you to it because some of my testers also weren't able to understand the lyrics, which I fully blame that radio effect for (definitely not my shoddy mixing skills lol). I've been meaning to upgrade to one of the newer Komplete's but money is tight so I've been doing what I can with Komplete 10. When I get around to it I'll definitely check out Noire Piano, thank you!
It doesn't come off as negative at all, I'm really grateful that you took the time to write all of your criticism out! A lot of things I've already noticed myself after the jam because hindsight is always 20/20 but you made some really good points and I very much appreciate it! I'll probably try to fix these things once the jam is over. Thank you again for this detailled comment! <3
Yeah having some rng mitigation makes some sense. It doesnāt seem like the type of experience where replayability is important anyway, which is the big plus of randomization (besides not having to commit to something, pacing wise). Since youāre already effectively toying with playerās patience to some extent, getting that pacing just right seems like something to prioritize.
I didnāt actually have trouble keeping my stats up, the menu screen was very clear, it was simply a combination of āwhat can advance to the next day the fastestā and amusing myself with the idea of running myself to death, the natural reaction to being in a situation like that :P I also have to admit I wasnāt 100% sure the eye was an enemy, I walked up to it and hit E to see if maybe it was the friend who was leaving me clues and stuff.
I dunno if the Komplete 14 upgrade is worth it, but I think their 50% off summer sale should be coming up pretty soon. Maybe use some prize money from this to go for it? š I definitely have hoarded more VSTs than I can make use of lol
If you do update this I definitely would check it out again!
Really brings up the isolation theme. I like the visuals and the audio but the days take too long to pass, I guess its could be because I didnt use the book enough. My pc fan also goes crazy loud for some reason so I played only until day 2 to avoid any issue, is the fps limited ? If not I would suggest doing so to 144/256, so the gpu doest work for nothing. Clever theme interpretation and well execured concept.
Literally 2020
Only with monsters lol
lol
Quite atmospheric, with really good audio. Cool game!
Thank you!
Love the creepy atmosphere of the room.
Which of the four...? :'D
TBH the whole apartment, but my fav was the living room with the food cube dispenser and the 1956 computer, felt so dystopian and weirdly creepy
Thank you!
I really like the atmosphere of the game. I don't think I understood what I had to do though. At first I tried to refill the different resources when they were low but I couldn't get food. I kept ordering the food cubes but they always fell on the ground and I was starving! But overall the game fits perfectly with the theme. I'm not looking forward to the year 2074!
Thanks for playing! The goal is to simply survive. If you crouch (CTRL or C) you can eat from the ground too. Just make sure to mind the three second rule lol
Cute game, solid, straightforward, the Radio music 10/10.
Nice game, please check my game :)