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Morgan and Alex's Dark Home Dinner's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Usage of Theme | #10 | 3.057 | 3.222 |
Gameplay/Usage of the medium | #10 | 3.268 | 3.444 |
Overall | #13 | 2.872 | 3.028 |
Story & Plot | #15 | 2.951 | 3.111 |
UI Design | #17 | 2.214 | 2.333 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
Rose Everett
Program
Twine
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Comments
i got so hopelessly lost xD the game was pretty fun despite that. i loved the writing and how unbothered it was, and the whole premise was great. thank you for sharing!
This was fun!
I hated Alex with a passion for inviting people out and not helping at all with the house. Like, who does that??? Aside from one of the endings, I was happy with how the game ended, because I could not stand her. I am still not sure why she was locking herself in the cellar for her little project. I think I have an idea about it, but it could have been neat to have some hints scattered in the room (or did I miss it?).
I don't know how someone can carry soooo much stuff (liked the little nod at that btw) and I am still not sure if I put the laundry away... (could you do that?).
It was nice to have some sort of map at the top of the page (though I still manage to get lost at the end). I got really confused about where rooms were (maybe an image map could have helped?) but I liked that the MC didn't seem to remember where things were and had to look around the house to find them. I also agree that not having a checklist (mentioned by Sherlock Homeslice) really put the game into a real situation, where you feel the dread and anxiety for being overwhelmed with things around you.
Some other points:
Neat! Makes me appreciate my partner more for cleaning around and having clear communication with me :P
It's kind of a labyrinth of a game, where it's very easy to lose your way. I had no idea what was going on, but I still had fun.
I'm convinced that our protagonist is part spider, carrying a small menagerie of items in their 8 arms to clean a home that would probably be condemned if someone got peeved enough to call Code Enforcement.
This game was thrilling for me. The threat of tidying a hopelessly unkempt home under a nebulous time constraint spurred me along with purpose, one that kept me checking for some unseen timer as I devoured the descriptions of the home and its inhabitants. I adored the writing, and even though I revisited many rooms several times because I couldn't see the map without tabbing out, I was always happy to reread the descriptions of the home. The extended metaphors are present in every room's description, and added to my growing dread (and glee) as I explored the home, gathering what I could to apply it where it was needed. I didn't feel like I was just throwing items at locations and hoping they'd stick; the absence of a Checklist meant that I was in the same shoes as the protagonist, desperately trying to remember what I needed to do before I ran out of time.
I didn't encounter any bugs or glitches, which may have been luck on my part. The ambiguity of certain elements, like time, added to the atmosphere. The addition of a map display and - optional - a checklist to toggle would help, though I realize it's from the time constraint. Overall, this was a great way to spend a half hour.
This is the most "fun" I've had "playing" a "game" during this jam so far.
Pros: I really liked the structure. You made cleaning up a house fun, and it actually gave me the satisfaction of solving a puzzle when I found an item, took it to a spot where it needed it, and fixed or cleaned it using that item. The writing, especially the dialogue, is pretty good. As someone that's married, I got a feel of authenticity between the couple, and in a few short lines I felt like I got a good sense of who they were. The interface, considering the text-based nature, is actually pretty good, and I found myself feeling like I was exploring a house. The language you used to describe each area helped with that sense of place, and I liked the self awareness -- such as pointing out that you're carrying way too many items.
Cons: The major issue is I ran into an error screen when I tried to "unlock" doors. I couldn't get it to go away, and it took up enough of the screen where I couldn't really see anything anymore. As a result, I didn't get past the cleaning up stage. In addition, I found myself getting lost a little bit -- both in terms of which areas connected to which, and which items I was carrying. Some kind of "status" and/or "progress" screen might be extremely helpful in that area. In terms of the error, that's obviously not intentional, so I won't hold that against you. It's just the nature of a game jam. Also, for it being very gameplay focused, a better introduction/tutorial would have been beneficial. Finally, I would make sure the explicit content came after the content warning, not used as an example of it before you can turn it off.
High marks for being a "game" above all else. It was very refreshing. Awesome job.