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A jam submission

RecursionView game page

Explore an abandoned spacecraft while searching for those who came before
Submitted by Not Jam (@NotJamGames) — 11 hours, 27 minutes before the deadline
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Recursion's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#24.5004.500
Authenticity (use of resolution)#74.7864.786
Overall#214.2144.214
Graphics#364.2144.214
Gameplay#913.3573.357

Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Great horror game! I belong to those people who don't like being afraid and are scared of horror games, but the one that you created was OK for me! Recursion was creepy, but there was nothing to fail (in the difference from most horror games), for this reason I managed to finish it. I was scared, but I knew that there's nothing to fail, so I wasn't so scared to need to leave the game. I praise the tutorial, you made it interesting by setting it into the storyline (calibration). Good graphics and good music. During the whole game, I didn't understand why the game's name is Recursion, I understood it in the very end. Well done!

Developer

Thanks so much for playing, and for pushing through being scared! Delighted you were able to make it through :)

Appreciate your comments on the tutorial - I've always really struggled with making them, so glad to hear this one worked well for you!

Submitted(+1)

Man, this is an experience. The whole time it felt like I was flying around in a spacesuit. You really captured that well. The audio and movement make the whole experience so unsettling. Amazing job!

Developer

Thank you very much! Glad the feeling of the spacesuit came through, was something I really wanted to get right and I've really appreciated the feedback on it :)

Submitted(+1)

Good job friend, you really manage to stand out from everyone. Not to mention, the atmosphere is pretty cool. If you knew how to handle 3D with so little resolution.

Developer

Thanks very much! Really glad you enjoyed it, especially the atmosphere :)

Submitted(+1)

Audio and visuals are masterful for the resolution - very good work. Also the atmosphere and the environment are really well done.

Could use some faster movement but well, one of the best entries

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much! Really appreciate the kind words :)

Regarding movement - the slow acceleration and speed was a deliberate choice to get across the feeling of being in a large and awkward spacesuit, but in retrospect I may have taken this too far. Suspect I could have got a similar effect with a slightly higher speed and acceleration/deceleration that would be less frustrating for players!

Thanks again for the feedback :)

Submitted(+1)

I think this is one of the most impressive games I have played so far on this Jam. You couldn't have squeezed more atmosphere into this game if you tried and the sense of dread when sailing forward, the combination of the SFX and soundtrack and the use of lighting.....all within the limit of 64 pixel resolution. Wow! 

The slow turns you make in this game definitely add to the horror, not knowing if turning your gaze away could leave you vulnerable. I wouldn't change that, it feels like it should moving around in a large spacesuit. 

This is one of my favorites played so far and an excellent job to you for making this banger! :D  

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much! Really glad you enjoyed it, and appreciate the detailed response :)

Very happy to hear you picked up on the slow turns, I was really happy with how the slow acceleration and movement of the spacesuit turned out and I'm delighted to hear it worked for you :)

Submitted(+1)

The game is DRIPPING with atmosphere. It felt like something out of 2001 a space odyssey. I did get a little lost at points, but sometimes it added to the tension! Love to see another Godot user in the jam. Any reason you didn't do a web build? I think you'd definitely get more ratings/plays. Regardless, good job with the game!

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! Really glad to hear you enjoyed the atmosphere - there's definitely plenty of influence from 2001 in there, glad it came through :)

I had meant to publish a web build, but when setting up the project I forgot to change the renderer from Forward + to Compatibility. When changing it back to export for web there were a few issues I wouldn't have had time to fix, so to make sure I could submit on time I went for desktop only. Totally my own mistake, but not the end of the world as I've still had plenty of really useful feedback :)

Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

This is definitely a unique entry in this jam.

At some point, my screen went black. I guess this was because the y-coordinate of my position was below 0.

It might be a good idea to add the current position to the main screen. That way, you need to open the panel less often.

I like that the art is made with Gimp!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing :)

Not sure what happened with the screen going black - you shouldn't be able to reach a negative y-coordinate, so this is definitely a bug I didn't spot - really sorry about that!

Adding the current position to the screen is a great idea! It'd help the player keep tabs on their location without losing momentum, which is definitely an issue I should have addressed

Thanks again for the feedback, really appreciate it :)

Submitted(+1)

Unfortunately can’t open on Mac :(

Developer

Sorry to hear that! Completely forgot about this, but Apple's policies require developers to sign and notarize their apps before they'll run on OSX, and I can't justify the fee

According to Apple's website it looks like it may be possible to run it using the following steps:

  1. In the Finder  on your Mac, locate the app you want to open.

    Don’t use Launchpad to do this. Launchpad doesn’t allow you to access the shortcut menu.

  2. Control-click the app icon, then choose Open from the shortcut menu.

  3. Click Open.

    The app is saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it just as you can any registered app.


Totally understand if you'd prefer not to run an unsigned app - no pressure! 

Submitted(+1)

Wow, this is very cool. The beginning is quite cinematic- a long intro, a detailed tutorial, that's cool, it makes the vibe. Also I can note your cool work with sound (it really reminded me of Hans Zimmer's works with his "deaf technical" sounds). Chic atmosphere and feeling of discomfort - I was scared :)

+ about player movement - it's slow and some may consider it as minus, but for me it was more of plus, since its slowness is really similar to wearing a real space suit (I guess), and that's cool.

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much! Really appreciate this - always love playing with audio, so delighted to hear it worked for you :)

Very glad to hear you liked the movement speed, as I was worried it might frustrate some players, but I thought it was important for the feel of the game so I wanted to keep it if I could :) 

Thanks again for the kind words :)

Submitted(+1)

It took me a bit to figure out where I was supposed to go. Didn’t realize those were doors at first XD. The coordinates seemed more like flavor than a requirement – or I just got lucky and found where I was supposed to go on my first try. The atmosphere here is great, but I’d have loved to see a teeny bit more regarding gameplay. Audio and visuals really made the vibe here creepy and mysterious. The slow controls also contribute a great deal to the uneasy feeling. Great game and already on the path to be an excellent horror game if you had plans to continue working on it and building out the world.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing! You're totally right on the coordinates - I'd originally planned to add in alternate routes and optional areas before quickly realising I'd need to scale things down to stand any chance of finishing on time - would have loved to have made more use of them though

I definitely agree on the limited gameplay here, sure there would be some fun ways to use 0-gravity and momentum with environmental interactions!

Also really happy the slow movement worked for you - was worried it could make navigation tedious for some players, but decided to keep it at the current speed as I thought it was important to the feel of the game, so I'm very reassured that it ended up adding to the atmosphere :)

Cheers again :)

(+1)

you nailed the atmosphere, amaizngly scary. i liked it. Was lowkey explecting THEM to twithc\move suddenly at the end circle. For some reason

Developer

Thank you very much, really glad it worked for you :) could have been a lot of fun to add some glitchy twitch animations at the end, good call!

Submitted(+1)

It was indeed very long to start, and I must admit I didn't stick enough to play longer. Coordinated displayed while playing, or a little compass would have been nice. That said, the mood was amazing, I love the atmosphere and the sound, great job on this

Developer

Thanks for playing! Totally get it on quitting early - I definitely should have edited the intro cutscene and tutorial down, and especially so for a jam game where people's time with each entry is limited.

Really appreciate the kind comments on sound an atmosphere as this was my main focus, thank you :)

Submitted(+1)

Great atmosphere. But wasn’t sure how to get to the first coordinate. I felt like I was always getting stuck somehow.

Took way too long to get started and playing (long initial cutscene of studio name, plus game play cutscene, plus drawn out tutorial of controls all made it really hard to stick with it).

Developer

Thanks for playing! Sorry about the issues with getting stuck - was it an issue with collisions?

It's definitely a fair point on it taking too long get started, especially for a jam entry. Something I can work on for future games!

Appreciate the feedback, cheers!

Submitted(+1)

The game looks good and the atmosphere is wonderful, but i cant seem to progress. After getting to the first coordinates , you have to cross an open section. but the force pushing you is too strong for the thrusters. So i get stuck in a corner with no ability to move.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing and for the kind words :) 

Appreciate the feedback about the issue - not sure if changes are permitted during the voting period, but if not I'll patch this after the jam is done. Sorry you weren't able to complete it! 

Submitted

Yeah please patch it and i think a simple bugfix should not be a problem. With all the stress i made the mistake of not checking if music works... I did fix it now, because it would feel bad for the musicians who made it .