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Press Play's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Horror | #3 | 3.478 | 3.478 |
| Aesthetics | #7 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Enjoyment (Best Game) | #12 | 3.304 | 3.304 |
| Story | #13 | 2.913 | 2.913 |
| Sound Design | #13 | 3.391 | 3.391 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
The is something really scary about follow a trail of blood through the snow. Congratulations on the great work!
very interesting. I hope the author continues to make the game.
Very cool style and presentation. Player direction felt a little misguided at the beginning, took me a bit to realize I had to sit on the couch. I experienced what I'm pretty sure is a bug after feeding the hole two meats lol The game sent me back to the living room but then a static VHS filter over took the screen, I could still hear myself moving around the room but the visuals were just tape static, even though mouselook still worked. Very intriguing work altogether, and very ambitious for a week. With some more narrative focus, deliberate pacing, and player direction, I could see this being a very unique full game. Nice work!
Thank you for playing and for reporting the bug! Appreciate your thorough feedback as well!
I want MORE (tapes? haha)! Good concept with the tapes, so we need more to understand the story behind. The horror is set with the environment which is nice. I would expect some more spooky jumpscares but the ambiance is already adding the horror. Nice work with all that have been done within a week.
Thank you for playing and we’re glad you enjoyed it! :)
Love the concept and truly enjoyed it ! Would really like to play a longer version of this game (even though im not a fan of jump scares). Great concept overall with a great potential to be a lengthy game with a storyline, well done!!
Thank you, thank you <3
That feels like a lot of work for one week, I would like to know how you manage your workflow to have so much done is so little time.
This is obviously a great entry
Thank you for playing and the good feedback!
Our process was 1 day of planning and scoping, then splitting everything into smaller tasks. A huge focus was on using available resources (such as the first person controller from Unity, modular asset packs from the store) and common elements across the whole game.
Modular assets were a huge help in creating our environments. The woods level was kept simple with 1 asset that I modelled (tree), assets for the cabin from the store and terrain for the snow. Other maps were made using apartment and warehouse modular packs that we had from the Asset store. We did this to minimize additional work besides programming and writing, as we were not very experienced in 3D asset generation.
Lastly, the technical systems I designed and coded over the course of the jam were also reusable. For example, a system I implemented was for the objects of interest. Certain items the player looks at can be interacted with, and either trigger an event within the level or allow the player to carry it. Apart from the AI, no systems were implemented that were unique to a single level.
Moreover, I currently don’t have a real world job to focus on so I spent my entire week on this. Plenty of all nighters as well Q_Q
I hope that answers your question. I wrote a detailed post here to sum up my end of the work if you’re interested in reading more: https://nashmia-riaz.github.io/portfolio/pages/Project.html?project=PressPlay
Creative game. The sound design was rlly nice./ Gave it a five star rating would be great if you did the same :)
I enjoyed the creative choices in this game. The large trees in the vast snowy expanse, the dimly lit and quiet warehouse. Great vibes.
I appreciated that sound design was prioritized as well, both tapes made good use of it to create ambience and an engaging setting. I'm a particular fan of the low hum of the fan on the side of the wall in the warehouse.
I also like the different kinds of horror at play. The snowy place is more like existential horror, of trees impossibly large, a force that demands to be fed who you cannot understand the goals or motives of, the spirit in the forest that whispers to you. There was good focus on elements being oriented towards those more unknowable and large mysteries that are threatening. Whereas the warehouse is much more claustrophoic by comparison: the lack of light making you only able to see so far, the small normal sounds around you that nevertheless feel threatening themselves. To then be capped off by the lights coming back on, and the reveal that being able to see better isn't actually enough to save you, that it might actually be a worse thing. Again, thoughtful design.
The conceit of jumping to different worlds through different tapes is a fun idea, ambitious too. I'm pleasantly surprised we got even 2 tapes, each had plenty of good details and, though brief, could be made to stand on their own.
I've been trying to focus on game ideas that I can create completely within the timespan of the given gamejam, so I don't know that I'd take a similar approach, concept wise. But that's also because, after this game jam, I don't really think I'll be working on my game further (even if there are lots of things I had to cut and couldn't get to). However, I notice that a lot of submissions to gamejams in general are focused on being a demo or snippet, Where it's expected to be worked on after the jam. Neither is the better approach, it's just interesting to consider these different approaches. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that, like, did you go into this knowing that you wouldn't be able to get all the ideas for different tapes in, what would it look like if you re-approached this knowing the scope of what you'd be able to accomplish, that sort of stuff.
This was a great submission to the jam, thanks for much for all your efforts. :]
You understood our idea perfectly, which actually makes us really happy! Your post is a very good elaboration of our initial concept with the 2 horror levels.
You raise a very good question. This is my second game jam as a programmer. In my first one, I aimed for a hyper-casual game. I usually want a complete presentable project that I can take away for my portfolio, so scoping was extremely important and we spent a whole day on planning. Our idea spawned off of the V/H/S movies, which we also watched in our downtime to get a better understanding of the different horror elements. Personally, for me, I go for smaller ideas and a possibility to combine them because it’s easier to program; write modular code then reuse it.
This was also our writer/designer’s first time writing for a game. So short, self-contained ideas also gave them room to explore the elements better. We had a very good understanding of each other’s work where the writers gave me room for technical development and vice versa. Considering this, we would likely have come up with the same outcome but perhaps with a more polished product (less bugs, better graphics and QOL changes). It was a conscious decision to make smaller tapes to keep within the game jam’s time frame which worked out as a happy accident in a way. We did have more ideas that we never got to, which we will be adding in later on. Therefore, at the end of the day, things would be slightly different if we scoped this with a better time frame, but not vastly.
I hope this answers your question well. I’d love to connect and talk about this in depth if you like. The horror elements and game mechanics you used within your game were very memorable for me and I’d love to know your process as well.
This was really creepy! I liked having the game being sectioned into smaller games through the VHS (would be neat to hunt down more of those :P ) and the whole old TV static vibe. Both tapes were super creepy!
I did wish you'd be able to walk faster or many run, since both maps are pretty big.
Duly noted, will increase the player speed after the rating week is over. Thank you for playing and enjoying our little game! We do plan on adding at least 3 more tapes in the future.
neat!
This has some real potential to be a banger of an indie game. I've played with the "weeping angels" mechanic in projects before and I love it. Really hope you use this as a starting point and flesh out a bigger scope for it!
Good Job!
Thank you for playing. Very happy that you enjoyed it and can relate to the development side of it as well. It was indeed very fun to come up with and code in the AI. ^_^
I loved the atmosphere - especially those large trees that seemed to stretch into infinity and the snowy ambiance sound. At first, I thought I was supposed to throw myself into the hole to feed it :D, but then I followed the blood trails to those deer. The whisper scared me the most I think.
Impressive for just 7 days!
Some minor errors I noticed were the following:
1. You see that you are a capsule when you walk to the mirror in the very first area
2. A candle floats around in the wood cabin of the snowy level
3. A red text message pops up briefly when you press "ESC" in the snowy level
Thank you for playing! And for the bug finds. We definitely want to flesh this out in the future so really appreciate you pointing out the errors. Glad you liked the feel of it!
I freaking loved this, so far it's my favorite of the jam! I was left wanting to find more tapes, honestly with more content I would gladly pay for the full version of this concept.
The whisper in the woods really got me!
OMG thank you! You’re the first person who got got by the whisper. We’re very flattered and we plan on adding more tapes in the future.
Hell yea, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for updates!
That was great, really liked the creepy atmospheres and offputting vibe of the whole thing. Huge fan of the VHS series which this reminded me a lot of. I did get a good laugh when I went to turn on the fuse box and accidentally jumped comically high, but went right back to being creeped out by those mannequins. Great job!
Haha we only noticed the jump post submission, and it cracked us up too. Glad someone else noticed it as well 😀
Thank you for playing! We’re glad you enjoyed it and that the mannequins are creeping everyone out.
Given a few QOL fixes this could make a banger markiplier video. I loved the aesthetics, particularly the outdoor level. I'm really impressed you managed to do all this in 7 days! Took me 5 just to make a guy walkin into your room while you play tetris... This game had me replaying levels to see what I could've done differently, and i was having so much fun that i got disappointed when i realized there were only 2 tapes. You made the mannequin trope work very well too, even though I expected it to happen the moment I saw a mannequin fall, you still managed to scare me with it. gj
Thank you! Honoured to hear that you think this can make it into a Markiplier video. Very happy that you had fun and that the game has replayability. ^_^
I loved the graphics and aesthetic! The idea is simple but engaging. The environments are well constructed. Iliked the sound the hole made, very creepy. The warehouse sounds too.
Forgive me for this gameplay. I just read you can actually throw the deers, and I missed a note, lol. I went in completely blind
Glad you vibed with it, and our bad for the objectives not being clear! Feedback noted and appreciated for future patches :)
As you've already been told about the tutorial, I won't repeat it XD. The concept of going to levels through a screen for the JAM theme seems very intriguing because it doesn't influence the gameplay of any level, but at the same time, it's a fundamental part like the paintings in Super Mario 64. The background of the levels with a touch of dream simulator also gives it a very unique aspect. Great job !
Loved this game, the level design is great and it's very original, good job !
I love the environment and concept of the game! I love the outdoors area, it felt really spooky and the mini games are fun! Good job!
Thank you. Very happy to hear that you enjoyed it :)
I liked the level design! It felt like I was in the VHS tape. I think this could benefit more if the objectives of each level were more clear. This could be me but I thought that getting my neck snapped in the warehouse or jumping into the hole in the snow level was supposed to happen since it popped me out of the VHS tape. Maybe have one or two check point within the level to let the player fully explore the creative designs that you guys have laid out.
Thank you for playing and for the feedback! We were worried that some of the design elements were too obscure so we very much appreciate your take.
I really enjoyed your game! Hopping between the different levels through the cassette tapes was a very interesting concept and I feel like it was pretty clear what I needed to do in each area. Also the use of 3D sound was very good for making me look at the events as the occurred. The environments for each area were also very well made given the limited time scope and how visually distinct each was. I'd say you might want to add some instruction to tell the player to sit on the couch after they put in the cassette tape, it took me a second to realize where to go. As well make the button to close the note the same as to pick it up, since that took me a bit to figure out as well
Thank you! We’re glad you enjoyed the game. ^_^ Per your feedback, we added instructions to the game page. Very much appreciate the feedback!