Play game
Diary of Z's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #4 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Audio | #12 | 4.152 | 4.152 |
| Overall | #15 | 4.159 | 4.159 |
| NES Feel | #17 | 4.303 | 4.303 |
| Gameplay | #35 | 3.515 | 3.515 |
Ranked from 33 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
I was completely amazed by the game presented. Having the page be interactive and used for gameplay is a unique touch. Graphically, it is beautiful, and the audio is also excellent. The product is very well-crafted, and I think it is the game that most recalls the NES and evokes that nostalgia. Honestly, there's not much to comment on because it is an amazing game. I feel like this could be the winner, and it is sincerely my favorite from the jam. Truly amazing work.
And at the current state, it kind of reflects that.
That said, the page? absolutely stunning, so cool, the attention to detail, all the little odds and ends, the movement of the manual with the page flipping, and everything encompassing that old school vibe even down to the carpeting. Not to mention the parody cartridge names and other bits, and the commercial footage with clips from other jam participants was a real neat touch.
Graphic design game on point. I hope to make something this cool if I ever commercially publish a game on this site.
The gameplay itself, not much to speak on right now, it's functional, parts are there, but feels like just a set piece so far, walk around smack stuff grab a key and repeat.
The code thing is a neat gimmick and as a nod to the old copy protection habits of old, is interesting
Some issues I found were enemies walking through doors and hitting you when they weren't visible on screen yet, remedied by me slashing like a lunatic at every entrance I went through, but probably not ideal, ha.
The Y sorting (I believe that's the right term) could be tweaked a bit to allow the pillar in the foreground of the door to render in front of the player when in the entrance area (as in the screenshot), which'd really help sell the pseudo 3D nature of the graphics.
I'm an absolute sucker for isometric games though, it's actually my favorite style of pixel art (and I know how finicky it can be to work with so props for that!) Looks real cool~
Hope to see you continue this and what you do in the future.
There's clearly a lot of love for the era on display here, and I'd like to see it become something truly special.
Wow thank you thank you for all of your thoughtful feedback. I really appreciate it! I'm working on a new version that fixes some of these issues and expands the game. Good luck with the jam!
This game has a beautiful page! It truly is one of the best Itch page I have ever seen! Something I feel like could have been added is some more Audio just make the game/environment feel more alive. (But I also dont know if this is a me issue as I did hear the TV static but was unable to hear any other game audio). Overall Amazing game!
hey Clark! If you get a sec, could you tell me what browser and os you're using?
Hey! Im currently running Firefox with Window 10. After trying to run it on Chrome, it had seem to fix itself. So its most likely a firefox issue.
This is utterly amazing - I was already in love with your game from the screenshots that I saw on this jam page, but I was absolutely floored by how you managed to present your game! I'm super looking forward to seeing this one get updated further, what an absolute joy to experience that sense of wonder
Thanks for taking a look! Your game is my favorite of the jam so far. :D
This game reminds me of The Immortal. The graphical style works really well.
really cool page , fun game loved it
Ahah, the game itself is nothing special but getting there sure is super cool.
Certainly a different take on how to present a game, for sure!
One question: Is it normal to continue playing through the game after you run out of health? I found that happened after the first time I died.
Hey HugBug or you go by the username of @gohugbug. Listen, your game is simply amazing. I saw your page design right away and I was very shocked and amazed at your masterpiece of a page. The fact that you have a lot of experience in making your pages look that creative and impressive just shows your dedication as a whole. Just pure incredible! Anyway let me get back on track here, I saw your intro before I actually played Diary of Z and I was simply very amazed and I admired looking at the intro in repeat before I even played the actual game. During my playthrough of Diary of Z, I admired how you have the book as a way to immerse the player that they're reading a book and playing the game at the same time. I loved the level design, enemies in the level and the music too. Although, I think the level is too short because after I defeated all the enemies and gotten all the keys, I completed the level with ease. But other than that, I rated your entire game a 5 stars on here, from gameplay wise to your page design, the graphics, audio and just that immersive NES feeling overall. Great job on making this amazing of a game right here!
You can open the gate, the instruction book gives a hint, but you need to have some prior knowledge about a certain secret classic gaming code...
I read that manual about 60 different times, and still couldn't understand what the up, up and down and down means. Is it like a cheat code or is it puzzle that I missed?
It's the Konami Code 👀^^ vv <> <> BA
Ooh, thank you so much! I finally beat the level, I didn't know the konami code existed back then xD
Wow - the page design was great. Very cool!
Awesome page! I love the graphic design jobe behind the 80's setup and the instruction manual maketation.
The game was cool, but i didn't find intuitive the door of bars puzzle.
Now we all want to do this for our pages haha
The page is already making me give 5 stars without playing the game lmao.
Felt a bit sad that I have to kill the guys there. Can I choose not to ? Will there be an alternate ending ?
This is one of my rare games I think I'll expand after the jam. Original idea has many alternate endings. So we'll see haha.
Why oh why do we have to kill the guys? I agree that should be optional. :D
Just wow. Your itch page looks absolutely amazing!
Having to load the cartridge and being able to flip through the manual had a really nostalgic feel to it. Especially the part where you actually have to read the manual to figure everything out.
The game itself was really fun! I almost wanted a few more rooms.
Was this inspired by Solstice by any chance?
I have not seen Solstice, so nope, not inspired by that one. Thanks so much for playing!
The game is pretty neat, but I think the real winner here is the page itself, having a manual, the tv setup and inserting the cartridge really boosted this game for me. :)
When I hovered my mouse over the power button and saw it was clickable I instantly knew what this game was going to do and loved it. Also finding out I had to use the manual was so cool - this whole thing kinda reminded me of the first part of Inscryption, where you have to look around in the environment to progress. I didn't even know Itch pages could be set up like this. The game's graphics were very neat and appealing, and the music was very nice.
incredible presentation! Super moody, well done. glad i read the other comments though, since i did not notice that i could actually read the manual, very cool. and also important to know because otherwise i would not have known how to progress past the gate. short and sweet overall though.
super cool setup that i would love to see used for some more cartridges ;)
Love the presentation. It's unfortunate it's so short D:
Incredible itch page design!! Wow you really captured the "wake up and play NES in front of the tv" feeling with the CRT shader and the background environment.
Game was super cool too! It definitely felt like the old isometric NES games. Very nice atmospheric music. Love the graphics and sword sound fx.
I got stuck here, and started running around trying to hit statues and stuff hoping it would open. Did I reach the end?
The music and atmosphere kept me captivated tho, happy to go around hitting walls and statues on a quest to find the secret button while vibing with the music. An unexplained hidden switch would definitely be NES feel haha. I was even looking at the "overworld" map on the background art to see if there was a secret clue!
Thanks for playing! There are a few more rooms after the dungeon bars, but not much. Haha. I added a little hint to the itch page in the instruction manual.
“To unbar the dungeon,
who’ll pass the test?
Up up down down,
you know the rest.”
The itch page is really impressive. While I don't think the game looks much like an NES game, it's solid albeit very short.