Definitely going to spend more time with this one! Intriguing mechanic, and I really like the grayscale graphics. The music and use of text really set the mood.
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He Detec!'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #34 | 3.964 | 3.964 |
| Gameplay | #49 | 3.857 | 3.857 |
| Overall | #79 | 3.875 | 3.875 |
| Visuals | #149 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Authenticity (use of resolution restriction) | #160 | 4.179 | 4.179 |
Ranked from 28 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Did you work in a team?
Yes, we worked in a team of 4 people which consists of a designer, a programmer, a musician, and an artist. It was fun!
Was the resolution a challenge?
Yes, it was! Keeping up with various constraints regarding resolution was challenging. The hardest part was creating sensible art.
What did you learn?
Trying certain game mechanics, design principles, a different art style, and a specific music style was very challenging, and rewarding at the same time!
Comments
Pretty nice visual style! Took me a moment to understand how the stealth mechanics worked, but pretty neat overall
Submitted
BIMSY DREAMSIt's a little hard to tell which figure is you at first, so a means of more quickly telling the player character apart from everyone else could've been nice(though looking at other comments it ssounds like you were looking into that already).
Once you figure that out though, this is good stuff. Would totally play a longer/more-expansive version too if one were made.
Submitted
HeroSquare STTP - Jam VersionTook me a long time to get past the first level, and I still don't fully understand how the line of sight mechanic works for some of the enemies. But it was fun to solve some of the puzzles and I liked the film noir theme. I agree with some of the others that I wish the sprites were a little easier to distinguish.
Submitted
Time CopsVery cool concept for a game! The puzzles were challenging but fun and the music is excellent. I think maybe the player and exit could've stood out a little more but I also understand the resolution challenge. In the end though, great job!
Submitted
Ramona's RunYou were right! This game is quite similar to mine. You have enemies that raycast an area in front of them, and you have exactly one turn to escape that area. It's definitely got that puzzle-y vibe.
I would say this game could benefit from a little more focus in the areas that are interesting. There is so much going on in the first level alone, and while I appreciate that you gave me time to get acclimated to the game's controls, there was so much to explain in that one level that my senses were getting bombarded on all sides.
You have bad guys who raycast two spaces in front of them. You also have guys that move, and they have more of a cross shape around them. Finally, you've got guys who raycast all the way down the tile map until they hit some colliding surface. All of that, in one level.
If the first level were only about one specific enemy type, for example, I think it would be easier for most people to wrap their heads around the gameplay. They would clearly understand how one enemy works before learning how the next one works.
Thanks for playing the game!
You are absolutely right about dumping lots of information in one level. We didn't have time during the game jam to create more levels though, so we needed to dump them into one level. When we expand our levels and their quantity, we might tweak this to better teach the game to the player. Thanks for the feedback!
I Detec right!
Nice black and white noire aestetics.
I liked the puzzles.
In the first level you are forced to learn to wait turns by space and to attac. Maybe it would be better to stretch the teaching to several simple levels. But nevertheless I had no problem to complete the game.
The music is beautiful and fitting. Good job!
Submitted
Mini ChimerasA tile puzzler was NOT what I expected going in, I can tell you that much!!
It was a fun little puzzler, but I feel a little more tutorial would've been nice.
Having two new enemy types in the first room while I'm still trying to figure out basic mechanics was a little overwhelming, and it took me WAY too long of going in circles before i realized I could press spacebar to wait for the duck-guy.
The sokoban puzzles were fun too, I'm a little miffed about having two shots but at the same time it was oddly engaging and challenging as it forced me to think about the puzzles as opposed to trial-and-erroring them as I usually do.
And, of course, the music was an absolute jam :)
Well made game, I'd love to see it expanded!
Submitted
Don't CroakThank you for the insightful comment! We haven't stopped working om the game, so feel free to check back in next week.
The resolution limit was a challenge in terms of text, so we put the instructions on the game page.
The reason we limited Sokoban retries was adding flavor to the challenge. You don't need a perfect solution to get a clue, and trying to figure the "whodunnit" part with clues of lesser "quality" is part of that zest. I'm glad it made you feel differently about approaching the puzzles, and hope you didn't find it frustrating.
But the clues, suspect info and which suspect is the killer changes each time, so playing it a few times until you figure out the puzzles is always an option. Maybe we could communicate that better going forward.
Thanks for playing the game!
We did not have enough time to create a tutorial level during the game jam since we only worked on the game for about 30-40 active hours, maybe even lesser. I have thought of creating a tutorial on my mind though! Considering that we'll expand and polish the game a little more, I definitely will try to create a tutorial that explains the main mechanics of the game. Also, thanks for your detailed feedback!
A very interesting little puzzle game. It's a really nice idea but I must confess I couldn't even figure out how to get past the first room :( Black and white was definitely and interesting choice on top of the resolution challenge. Love the harpsichord jam though!
Submitted
Pixels And PlunderAs soon as we settled on the concept of "old-timey mystery novel detective" I thought "HARPSICHORD!", and I'm not even sure it's era appropriate. Just that its old-timey, snobby Europeanness would work in this setting. As a team, we're impressed with Kardelen's audio work as much as the audience is. There's a link to her itch page on the game page, so maybe check out her other work?
We have heard a lot of feedback when it comes to distinguishing sprites and objects and the character and we're working on it, so feel free to check back in soon. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for playing the game!
The first room is kind of a tutorial room that aims to make the player understand the stealth and detection mechanics. You must use the "Space" button to wait for a certain amount of turns to successfully complete the level. The roaming enemy on the bottom-right part of the screen can be taken care of like that!
The music is really nice! Especially the one during the Sokoban part. It helped me to focus on the puzzle. :) It was really fun, I wish it was longer haha
Submitted
your summer break ends hereA nice little game. I really loved the puzzles as they were at perfect difficulty. The music was great and captured the theme of the game nicely. I thing t=if you increaase the colour palette of it, it'll be helpful to recognize the character more easily. One thing is, I think the game is rendered at 64x64 res, but the UI is not. Great game though.
Submitted
Walk in the NightThanks for playing the game!
We got lots of feedback regarding the color palette and general art decisions, we will be improving them! Also, thank you for your comments about the difficulty of the levels and the audio!
I tried my best, as the programmer of the team, to make everything suit resolution restrictions but yeah, certain UI elements and animations are not pixel-perfect, which would make the game in general more successful in regard to resolution restrictions. It was a hard but fun journey!
I detec right! I like the ambition here in fusing so many seemingly disparate concepts in roguelike puzzles, sokoban, and whodunnit detective logic. In looping between the stealth tactics and sokoban sections, there's something really neat about using the same interface to play very different feeling games.
Submitted
TOLKENTAUSNice puzzles! The music is great, really fits in with the game. I also like that the clues are different with every playthrough!
Submitted
Just fishingThis game really reminds me of another Game Jam I made a game for. It is called truth seeker. But this game was made a lot better, Love the puzzle solving and then checking out who has done it. Sweet graphics as well.
Submitted
InfiniGOLFHaven't had chance to play for long but what I did see was interesting and nicely done. Some way of differentiating things would have helped but not sure how you'd achieve that given the limitations, maybe a larger palette...? Anyway, good work!
Submitted
Crowd SauceNeat little sokoban type game with a murder to solve. It did take me while to realize that I needed to pay attention to the text with clues. Also the main character was hard to differentiate from the enemies especially when you start. In the first level you are boxed in with only one opening to the right. Only after pressing the right arrow key did I realize which was the player. Almost gave up because I thought the movement was broken.
Submitted
Snail Trail (Jam Version)
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