I'm not really into text based games but the ambiance you layed out made it enjoyable for me. I found interesting the idea of a crew being stuck underwater, and the way you approached the telling of the story by distinct characters was well crafted. The art style and the color palette you used reminded me of an imaginray dark cartoon network show of the late 90'. The contrast between the serious themes of the game and the visual is really efficient and conveys a sort of uneasiness to the whole.
Maybe it was lacking some more interaction with the submarine or some mini game putting you a bit more in the shoes of a crew member., but that"s only according to my tastes.
You've got here a great complete short piece that shines in the audio, visual and overall coherence, congrats !
As farsidevirtual said. It’s really something different of a game. Which is good. It plays well with the expectation that something gruesomely spooky is happening imminently to then lead you … to quite a different place than that. That’s no less gruesome to be sure.
Also the music and sound design is of the absolute toppest notch. It’s really really good and grounds you into the game in an instant and takes you along for the ride.
My fav is the engines ops. When this is all over I wanna have a beer with him.
This is a unique and lovely story-based experience that is distinctly different from the other games in the jam. It's lovingly written and designed to convey an impression of a setting, of characters, and a general mood, and I think that approach serves a jam game well where resources are constrained.
The designs are great! The 2D billboard character sprites are fun and immediately identifiable, and they are juxtaposed reasonably well in the dark, dingy 3D environment, which at least has a bit of colour to complement them as the player goes around chatting to each of the characters.
The character writing is good. The writers of the game use different emotional approaches to loss - grief, regret, indifference, apathy, or no response at all - as a hook to engage the player with the different interactions in the game. Through this the player learns a lot of contextual information.
Obviously one of the limitations with this approach is that not a lot happens, but that's okay. I think the purpose of the game, if I'm right, was to convey a certain mood and narrative, and it did that particularly well. The sombre and uneasy conclusion leaves a lot of things open for more stories!
I think that, if there had been time, slightly more environmental interaction and potentially some errands around the ship could have improved the player's engagement with the ship, rather than feeling that the game is a talk-a-thon. But of course that is no easy design task for a jam.
I did a playthrough video below:
This is an excellent collaboration! It's definitely one of the more unique games in the jam. I sincerely hope everyone involved continues to write and develop - keen to see more!
Comments
I'm not really into text based games but the ambiance you layed out made it enjoyable for me. I found interesting the idea of a crew being stuck underwater, and the way you approached the telling of the story by distinct characters was well crafted. The art style and the color palette you used reminded me of an imaginray dark cartoon network show of the late 90'. The contrast between the serious themes of the game and the visual is really efficient and conveys a sort of uneasiness to the whole.
Maybe it was lacking some more interaction with the submarine or some mini game putting you a bit more in the shoes of a crew member., but that"s only according to my tastes.
You've got here a great complete short piece that shines in the audio, visual and overall coherence, congrats !
thank you!!
As farsidevirtual said. It’s really something different of a game. Which is good. It plays well with the expectation that something gruesomely spooky is happening imminently to then lead you … to quite a different place than that. That’s no less gruesome to be sure.
Also the music and sound design is of the absolute toppest notch. It’s really really good and grounds you into the game in an instant and takes you along for the ride.
My fav is the engines ops. When this is all over I wanna have a beer with him.
Thanks for the kind words!!
This is a unique and lovely story-based experience that is distinctly different from the other games in the jam. It's lovingly written and designed to convey an impression of a setting, of characters, and a general mood, and I think that approach serves a jam game well where resources are constrained.
The designs are great! The 2D billboard character sprites are fun and immediately identifiable, and they are juxtaposed reasonably well in the dark, dingy 3D environment, which at least has a bit of colour to complement them as the player goes around chatting to each of the characters.
The character writing is good. The writers of the game use different emotional approaches to loss - grief, regret, indifference, apathy, or no response at all - as a hook to engage the player with the different interactions in the game. Through this the player learns a lot of contextual information.
Obviously one of the limitations with this approach is that not a lot happens, but that's okay. I think the purpose of the game, if I'm right, was to convey a certain mood and narrative, and it did that particularly well. The sombre and uneasy conclusion leaves a lot of things open for more stories!
I think that, if there had been time, slightly more environmental interaction and potentially some errands around the ship could have improved the player's engagement with the ship, rather than feeling that the game is a talk-a-thon. But of course that is no easy design task for a jam.
I did a playthrough video below:
This is an excellent collaboration! It's definitely one of the more unique games in the jam. I sincerely hope everyone involved continues to write and develop - keen to see more!- FSV
Thanks so much for your thoughtful review!