The set up given at the beginning and gameplay makes me think of a more grim version of Unpacking. The mechanic definitely has the potential to tell a compelling story, but unfortunately it'd need more effort put into the writing to make it feel more like we're learning about different episodes of the hero's life.
Perhaps being able to interact with the items through a dialogue tree to find out more about them if they seem interesting based on the introductory description would be a good way of expanding it?
The item description text overflowing and covering other descriptions certainly took away from the experience too.
Thanks for playing, and commenting, I really appreciate it! And absolutely - I actually programmed a full dialogue-tree system into the game with plans for a bunch of additional retroactive conversations between the player and their partner, launching off of specific items. It would have taken maybe an hour or two to write those scenes in a spreadsheet and just copy-paste them into the game’s database - then I looked up and realized I had fifteen minutes left. So, unfortunately, had to cut back to just a hastily written one-sided conversation with minimal testing to figure out the clipping problem. But the tech’s still in there if I get the chance to improve it.
Definitely wishing I’d planned things a bit differently! I’ve never played Unpacking but what I’ve heard about it was probably an unconscious inspiration. Glad you found the core concept compelling and I’m sorry for the poor rendering of that idea!
Comments
The set up given at the beginning and gameplay makes me think of a more grim version of Unpacking. The mechanic definitely has the potential to tell a compelling story, but unfortunately it'd need more effort put into the writing to make it feel more like we're learning about different episodes of the hero's life.
Perhaps being able to interact with the items through a dialogue tree to find out more about them if they seem interesting based on the introductory description would be a good way of expanding it?
The item description text overflowing and covering other descriptions certainly took away from the experience too.
Thanks for playing, and commenting, I really appreciate it! And absolutely - I actually programmed a full dialogue-tree system into the game with plans for a bunch of additional retroactive conversations between the player and their partner, launching off of specific items. It would have taken maybe an hour or two to write those scenes in a spreadsheet and just copy-paste them into the game’s database - then I looked up and realized I had fifteen minutes left. So, unfortunately, had to cut back to just a hastily written one-sided conversation with minimal testing to figure out the clipping problem. But the tech’s still in there if I get the chance to improve it.
Definitely wishing I’d planned things a bit differently! I’ve never played Unpacking but what I’ve heard about it was probably an unconscious inspiration. Glad you found the core concept compelling and I’m sorry for the poor rendering of that idea!
Really interesting idea, and nicely done!