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A jam submission

OperatorView game page

Answer the call?
Submitted by Secresteyn (@Secresteyn) — 4 hours, 22 minutes before the deadline
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Operator's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Fear#63.6673.667
Creativity#123.6673.667
Emersion --Does this game bring you into a new world?#143.6673.667
Marketability#143.0003.000
Story#222.3332.333
Humor#371.3331.333

Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Charles Ellis Nash
Secresteyn, Peter Hawkey

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Comments

Host

I must have recked the trigger points, but as far as I saw there were some valuable changes you could make. First of all, I really like the art style/aesthetics of it. A well-deserved 4 on emersion for it. It would be a 5, if it weren't for these last notes : The gameplay felt really slow. The phone rang far too long while nothing happened, so I just left the room. Also, there are no control hints. There should be some UI (whether over the interactable or on the player's screen) indicating what to do. This would improve a lot. As for Audio, it was really good as well. 

You should definitely update it. I see a lot of marketability here.

Developer

Hi Charley,

Thanks for taking the time to play the game and leave some solid feedback.

I agree there is much to improve with regard to UI & readability. There seem to have been quite a few issues with people feeling a little lost or unsure of what to do. In some ways that was intended but not to the point of being detrimental to the overall experience! I think I will revisit this project at a later date but I have shifted gears to a more medium-sized project for the time being.

In an ideal world, I would mix some of the learnings from my first project SMILE with some of the aspects I got right in this one and make something a bit more rounded and complete. With both projects, I struggled with scoping and implementing core functions in good time which left me scrambling for time to actually build and polish levels.

For my next release, I want to be a bit more "ready" going in and am taking the time to polish up some core code libraries, python scripts, and Unreal 5 modules to ensure the next horror jam I take a crack at I can focus solely on the scary bits and the fun bits instead of some of the technical back end.

Thanks for your detailed feedback I will keep it in mind for my next release!

Have a nice day

Host

Awesome and you're welcome!

Also, I would recommend trying a smaller project if you are struggling with scope. I know, I struggle with scope too, but there was a jam that taught me something : a small, 10 minute game's completeness is worth more than a 1 hour game of lost nonsense. With that said, your game is actually very marketable. The idea of a telephone operator in the endless halls during midnight has a lot to offer--what I would say you could do is take the whole telephone thing, and have the player running this place in a portal-like scenario. 

Just one last thing : value performance greatly. If it runs at 60fps for you, there is a large chance that someone's machine will run at 15fps.

Anyway, congrats on this one! 

Submitted

Really sick art style and a great foundation. Do you know if you plan on getting around to fixing it? I know you mentioned that you were possibly updating it to fix the trigger points. I got  stuck trying to find out who was at the door, but boy was I shakin' in my boots. Hope to see this sucker finished out! Will keep an eye out for updates 

Developer

Hi Saquon26,

Thanks for taking the time to test out the game and leave feedback. I appreciate it!

I spoke to CharleyThePostman about whether I am allowed to make updates during the rating period and I believe I am allowed to do so. I mentioned in my mini Post Mortem that I had some grander plans for this project originally.

I am undecided if I will spend more time polishing this one up or apply what I've learned and reuse some of the core code and assets to work on something a bit meatier.

Trying to wrap up a short 1-2 week 2d project at the moment but when I get that done I'll revisit this and make a decision!

I am happy to hear you enjoyed the art style and that it did a good job of creating that scary atmosphere. I struggled to get that tension right in my first attempt at a horror game!

Thank you again for taking the time to write a comment it helps me stay motivated and filter out areas I need to improve upon.

I look forward to testing out other entires to this jam and giving feedback when time permits!