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A jam submission

Body RebellionView game page

A Surreal Nose-Picking Adventure
Submitted by Anders R. Mattson (@andersmattson14) — 2 hours, 43 minutes before the deadline
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Body Rebellion's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
HOSTS' CHOICE#1n/an/a
BEST GAME#183.5203.520
SCARIEST GAME#362.5202.520

Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

(+1)

Who nose what I expected from this entry, but it snot this!

The weird choice of subject matter works surprisingly well for horror. The initial ridiculousness kind of bypasses the reader's defenses. Although the body horror feels quite mild, there's something unsettling about the way that the character portrait and text change once the nosebleeds start to happen. The character's anxieties feel very real and relatable - the nose picking feels like it could be any poorly-chosen coping strategy, which makes the game feel like it speaks to something bigger. This works particularly well in relation to the "verbs" the player is given - if you only have one coping strategy to get you through the day, every situation you encounter will be viewed in relation to it! Simply commuting, doing your work, interacting with colleagues feels almost secondary in comparison.

In a slightly Stanley Parable-esque fashion, the game's 'good' ending feels like the least satisfying somehow: why be good when it's so easy? This lets the player really get stuck in to making terrible choices with their character's personal hygiene and seeing the results.

The minimal graphical elements work well, and the music fits the tone perfectly.

Never been scared of my nose before, but your game has taught me how close my insides are to my outsides, and how easily that barrier can be broken. Well done!

Developer

Hey thanks for the thorough review! You hit the nail on the head for pretty much everything :). I loved playtesting this game with some friends, as some of them were very turned off by the whole idea. AND YET THEY STILL PICKED!! 

Hope you try for the "Soft Ending." Would be curious to hear what you think.

Submitted(+1)

Very strange and enjoyable little experience. Reminded me of those old experimental pc games like Bad Milk or The Museum of Anything Goes.

Developer(+1)

glad you liked it :). I’ll have to check those out! 

Submitted(+1)

What i have just played? The scariest part that i picked my nose while playing this!!!

Developer(+1)

Then you played it right!!!! 

But seriously, hope you liked it :) 

Submitted(+1)

e g g

Developer(+1)

Is it...True? Have you really ascended?  :)

Submitted(+1)

Half way though I started laughing uncontrollably.

Developer

:) hope you enjoyed it! 

Submitted(+1)

Too real and too scary. I started picking my own nose. The imagery and audio combined with the narrative twisted my insides around and made me respond physically. Scariest submission I've played yet. Great job.

Developer

Fight the urge! But in seriousness, thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it. Give the soundtrack a listen on Noah's bandcamp (linked on the game's page). I also love the music and think he did an amazing job (there is a bonus track too). Thanks again! 

Submitted(+1)

Very funny! I had a Harvester vibe, or related fmv games! Since the first ending made me laugh, I played again to see the second one and was not disapointed! Good job!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for the response and glad you enjoyed it! Excited to hear someone made an FMV connection, was getting into Sega CD graphics / audio when I first started brainstorming this project. I’ll check that one out sometime! Try for the third ending sometime ;) 

Jam Host(+1)

Body Rebellion explores the urges of compulsion in a unique and surreal way. I think that the core idea of juxtaposing a daily routine with the player choice to pick away at your nose is a good metaphor. 

I feel the game works on two ways. Many people have habits that lurk beneath their conscience and confronting them can be an interesting way of questioning how much control we have over our minds and also our bodies.  But also the game as I see it is primarily a metaphor about coping mechanisms and how our response to stressors (i.e work) can have various impacts on our physical health.  

The surreal touches to the game added a bit of humour and the multiple endings provided for good replay value, as well as allowing the player to understand the different themes of the game. 

I don't know if I'd change anything per se, but perhaps I'd have taken the subtlety and absurdity of the theme and ramped it up. Why stop at having your skull leak out of your nose when an obsessive nose-picker would likely grind their nose into a stump too? Or, yknow, have a little brain matter fall out! 

Full disclosure: I have picked my nose since starting this review.

Thanks for submitting Body Rebellion to the SCREAM MACHINE jam!

- SCREAM CATALOGUE

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for the reply and positive response. You nailed pretty much all of my goals with this game / my general philosophy regarding the themes (and the fact that you were picking your nose after writing is hilarious). Regarding feedback I could definitely ramp things up and  add more to the animations. They were very fun to make, and can see myself experimenting further with the style / this specific project (used Aseprite to mix real life images with additional pixel graphics).

Thanks again for checking it out and hosting, this has been my first Game Jam and has been a really fun / engaging opportunity. 

Jam Host(+1)

No problem Anders, it was great to have you participate in the jam! There are lots of outlets for interactive fiction and experimental games on Itch and it's awesome to see a lot of left-field games with unique stories get played and valued by the community. Definitely encourage you to keep writing and creating and can't wait to see what you come up with down the track :) 

(+2)

That's how you do real horror guys

Submitted(+1)

10/10 would pick my nose again !

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you for taking the time to play it / the positive response. But I hope this game inspires you to not  pick your nose every once in a while ;) 

Submitted(+1)

That was super awesome! I love the writing and the visuals, and it's a really unique concept. Definitely seems like it'll be among my favorites of the jam!

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you liked it and thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it. 

Submitted(+1)

Made me uncomfortable, which in this game jam is a good thing. I like the space ending too.

Developer (1 edit)

Glad you liked that ending, one of my favorites too. Thanks for playing!