I absolutely love a game with ARG elements that contains puzzles and clues that sit both within and outside the context of the game. I did it with my first game, Shellie's Secret. One of the tricks to ARGs though is finding a good path between hinting to the player that they need to use lateral thinking, whilst not tipping off the player enough so that they lose the thrill of discovering something they feel is hidden. You mentioned this is the first part of many, so hope you can explore ideas that bridge those concepts as you build your empire of ARG experiences. Keep at it!
Play game
They're Alive's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Sound Design | #19 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Story | #24 | 2.556 | 2.556 |
| Enjoyment (Best Game) | #29 | 2.667 | 2.667 |
| Horror | #35 | 2.556 | 2.556 |
| Aesthetics | #38 | 2.778 | 2.778 |
Ranked from 9 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
If you used the SCREAM ROULETTE, what results did you use to inspire your game?
Shadows, although I didn't exactly follow it in the traditional sense.
What engine did you use to make this game?
GDevelop
Comments
8 days ago(+1)
Thanks :) I've said this to another dude before, but all the passwords aND the stuff are in the description of the game whenever your stuck. That doesn't matter though, thanks either way :). I'm going to check the code thingy, it worked fine for me but I'll playtest it again.
8 days ago(+1)
Thanks :) Just to let you know, all the passwords and stuff are in the description of the game whenever you're stuck :) Thanks either way!
Ok so as I told you on discord, I had a pretty good time playing your game! It wasn't boring, and figuring out the puzzles was satisfying. The animation when you try to turn off the internet is pretty fun. Couldn't manage to crash the game despite my best attempts, so you made it pretty solid!
Here's the things I would change to add extra polish:
-For the first puzzle, I wouldn't tell people to use a base64 decoder. It's a fairly common cypher in ARGs, so I would let people figure it out by themselves.
-For the second puzzle, I struggled as the design was very similar to the previous note (the clue to solve puzzle n°1). I just assumed it was a normal text file and didn't realise you have to have it open for it to work. I figured it out through multiple trials, but maybe add some buttons or make the box look more like an actual cmd window so it's more clear that an input is expected there. Maybe something like that? I think that would make it way easier to understand on top of making it look more real and immersive.
-I liked the mini game! Maybe don't start the level immediately so the player has a second to breathe? But since you can retry it over and over again, it's nbd. It'd be an issue if you had limited lives but that's not the case so... Eh, it can stay. :P
The story needs some work, I think? I don't really understand how the intro that references analogue horror, the locked computer, the child and his awful parents and the mini game text all fit together. It feels like multiple distinct stories, and they're all interesting... but they don't exactly mesh together at this point, it that makes sense?
Overall I had a good time and I'm glad I got to playtest it. I think you can make it into something really good if you're interested into reworking it, but it's already a fun puzzle to solve as it is. I'll keep an eye on your future projects :D
8 days ago(+1)
this is merely chapter 1 of the story- but trust i have a story in mind and it will click later on :) thank you so much for your time, i appreciate it :) im gonna play your game as soon as i can.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.