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Sandsong's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Devlog | #4 | n/a | n/a |
| Audio/Sound Design | #8 | 3.387 | 3.387 |
| Theme | #10 | 3.548 | 3.548 |
| Art Style/Visuals | #14 | 3.677 | 3.677 |
| Overall | #22 | 2.929 | 2.929 |
| Innovation | #40 | 2.290 | 2.290 |
| Gameplay/Fun | #57 | 1.742 | 1.742 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Game Engine / Tools
Unity
How does your game fit the theme?
The game is a walking simulator that aims to invoke the feeling of loneliness and isolation through mechanics, story, and music.
Devlog link
https://wayfarergames.itch.io/sandsong/devlog/726599/sandsong-a-postmortem
Self-made stuff
Assets (e.g. free or owned)
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Comments
Effective in its simplicity :-)!
GAMEPLAY
Simple but effective experience, especially for the theme. Of course, it's a pity there isn't more to do than walking and some jumping, but maybe this could one day serve as a basis for a game with more action and options. Nicely done when you walked the wrong way at the start :-).
ART STYLE / VISUALS
The graphics, though simple, effectively used basic shapes and effects to create a compelling atmosphere, demonstrating that simplicity does not detract from visual appeal.
AUDIO / SOUND DESIGN
The audio was perfectly suited to the experience.
INNOVATION
Not highly innovative.
THEME
The theme was well incorporated as an experience.
Maybe not really a game, but for the experience it was well done. I know it was made in not so much time so still nice that you could make this experience. Nice unique entry. Keep it going :-) 💪
Couldn’t find a little lead weight to hold the D key for me. Is the message or story more meaningful because I was the one who held the D key instead of it just walking forward for me? I don’t think so, honestly, but i’m jaded and cynical I guess
I did enjoy spamming shift and jump while in the air to get silly animations. The game seemed to abruptly stop at some point with an invisible wall, which was surprising. I liked the art, and decent choice in music.
Hollow Knight’s also a blast, and I hope the Bullet Hell jam goes well :)
The game was very pretty and had an interesting message. The storytelling was good too. I do wish the game had more things to do, except, of course, holding the D key haha.
"The past holds only dust"? So does the future! Damn!
Appealing little experience.
I'm a huge fan of the simple art style. It looks very clean and polished, and the background music compliments the visuals very well. It was a little lacking in the gameplay department for my taste, but it was still a very nice and relaxing experience, and I really enjoyed it. Well done!
Played and rated!
Nice music and ambient, simple and clean art, I liked it :)
Good atmospheric game overall, however I would have like to see mechnanics such as flying/gliding to make the journey more interesting without necessarely making it gameplay focused.
Would appreciate if you check out and rate our game too!
https://hadilepanda.itch.io/lonely-byte
Sandsong, Silksong? Coincidence? haha
Very polished game! When I reached the end (if there truly is one), I restarted and tried to go left instead. Was pleased at how you handled that. Good work!
I don't know if it was a piece of art or a video game, but it was a pure manifestation of isolation! I'm feeling pain in my left point finger rn tho and for some reason I could somehow glide (?!) when holding the "Shift" key?! Dunno I didn't complete the game honestly because it lacked the "Gameplay" and "Fun" elements, for me at least.
Good visual and atmosphere btw :)
A pure manifestation of isolation is definitely what I was going for, thank you 😁
Yeah there's a glide animation but no actual gliding (you just fall at normal speed) because I intended to have some platforming challenges in there too. Unfortunately time got the better of me and I had a massive eight day gap where I did nothing on the game!
This was a beautiful meditative experience that utilized simplicity in a beautiful way.
Nicely done :)
I think this game could have benefitted from giving the player more active things to do, maybe like sliding along the hills, because right now while atmospherically very cool I didn't really feel like I had enough agency, but it served to accentuate the vastness of the desert
Nice, well-polished philosophical game. It could have benefitted with either having the game fade into darkness and a restart menu after the last text, or looping back to the starting point to represent the never ending isolation. Though I did pick up on Discord, you had to change games near the end, so you may not have had time to implement a clearer ending.
Oh, looping back to the start point would be a nice idea - I kinda left it so you could explore it without any of the text or shades to really nail that feeling of isolation, but it would've been cool for it to loop right back to the beginning. The camera controller would've struggled I think 🤔 it might be fairly difficult to do a smooth loop with my nice floaty camera!
Maybe if you did a brief fade and restarted the scene. I assume Unity has a restart command? I don't use it myself.
Yeah that would work, but I'd prefer the fancy endless loop, I think it would fit better 😂 restarting would reset the music track too, which would feel a bit jarring, less smooth. I think I know how I'd do it tbh, it's just a little bit more complicated.
Great. Always nice when you figure out there is a way to tell your engine to do the trick you want it to :)
beautiful visual style and a pleasant meditative story
Show post...
cool game. I kinda wish there was more going on at times but it had an overall pretty relaxing aesthetic. Just needs more interaction.
Yeah it definitely needs more interaction, I just completely ran out of time unfortunately 🫠
I enjoyed this game, reminded me a bit of Journey in a way. The art, music and gameplay work well together though!
The art and music bring great immersion, however, I believe it would be interesting to have more interactions, but overall, great game, very reflective.
Loved the game.
You can also check out my game and rate it
Hey i like it, like a interactive poetry, would be nice that and some pointi think the shhaows will follow me, would be nice like a way to show that you are fleeing from said past. Art looks really good and the ambient perfect. Nice entry x3 ♥
Preface
The rating is based on my personal preferences alone. Generally, I'm pretty open to new experiences, but I prefer games where lots of things happen.
Gameplay/Fun
All you really do is walk. You can jump, but it's a shame you can't float.
Art Style/Visuals
Can't say the colors mesh together well (that's especially important in a minimalist setting), but I like the sparkles and the characters.
Audio/Sound Design
I mean, it's good, but it's just one song.
Innovation
Walking simulators are an interesting way to convey poetry in a game setting.
Theme
You're completely alone, so the game is accurate to the theme. The graphics and music compliment that nicely.
Verdict: Good game.
RATING IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Thanks! I would rate in basically the same way as you to be honest 😂 I also prefer games where lots is happening, I usually make action arcade stuff. This was a nice change of pace as a project though, and it's basically a product of my only working on it for like 12 hours! I appreciate the feedback 😊
WOW. That was insane. The atmosphere was beautiful in a sad sort of way and felt perfect for the theme. A great example of quality over quantity, and I was surprised by how hooked I was, even though it was so simple. One slight thing I noticed is that if you walk backwards, the words disappear, but they don't reappear when you walk forwards again. That's a really small thing though, this game was fantastic.
Thank you! That's exactly what I was going for so I'm glad you felt that way 😁
The words are supposed to stop appearing actually. I had a toggle and went back and forth, but ultimately thought it fit the overall game and theme better to have the thoughts disappear! A bit pretentious I know 😉 but I quite enjoyed having to decide things like that!