Thanks for the game! It was a fun puzzle but it took a while for me to figure out what the information meant. I didn't know what the sound one meant and I still don't know what the white icons on the map are.
Amazing experience! The suffocating feeling of a closed space and mounting anxiety, amplified by the oxygen level constantly going down... It is a very atmospheric experience. Loved the puzzle too. I wasn't sure what the fault tolerance for the winning condition was and was so happy that 11m off the spot was accepted! Only after that could I finally exhale in relief!
I also appreciated the little details: books as buttons or the sign "made for Thinky Games jam"! I think the instructions on the wall were a nice touch as well. I didn't notice them right away but the space is small so I saw them very soon. Combined with the game description it gave me a clear picture of the objective of the game.
Would be curious to hear if you plan on expanding the prototype to the full game? If so, what would be the strategy for scaling the core mechanics? Different levels with increasing complexity by adding more moving parts? Or expanding the narrative?
Another question is how to keep the pressure on players as every new won level will probably make them feel more confident.
That was cool once I figured it out, but I would have liked more information about the controls. Like a warning that it's an audio game and makes no sense without the sound on, and a note that the main thing you can interact with is kinda down in the darkness near the floor where there's mostly nothing. Because it took me three or four runs and 5-10 minutes to discover the main mechanic of the game.
Also some hints about the map icons would be nice: I figured out the whales but the other two...? I figured out through trial and error that the trapezoid with the ring on top makes gurgling noises and the... other one makes wooden clunking noises but I have no idea what they're supposed to be.
Thanks for the feedback. The fact that the player is just thrown into the experience & has to figure out what to do & what the 'rules' of the game is 'by design'. That being said, I appreciate that we could have made the iconography for the landmarks and some of the instructions a little bit clearer.
In this prototype, the three types of landmarks we implemented are :
Yeah, that's fair. I think just moving the bow sensor dial and wheel up a bit would have fixed it. And maybe renaming it? Put the dial and the "Hydrophone" light right near each other, and the wheel right near that, and lose the "Bow Sensor" label. I was partly confused by the idea that a bow sensor could turn all the way around and listen backwards, and it took a long time to realize that it had anything to do with the hydrophone light.
Well obviously I had to play this after you added the oxygen meter just for me! I thought this was super well done overall--I'm really impressed with the procedural map generation, and the controls and gameplay were intuitive. The one thing I could have used is a scale on the map because, while I was getting the general location correct, I was having difficulty telling how far away from different landmarks I was.
Thanks for playing! ... reminds me, I still need to post a review for your entry ; longstory short, I played it the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Good remark about the scale of the map. We were pondering whether to include it or not. The reason we went for no scale is two-fold : on one hand it adds to the ambiguity, and on the second hand, the scaling isn't actually 1:1.
For the sake of gameplay and map complexity, depth/height is compressed ; with a 1:1 scale, being in 100m of depth in a map that is about 256 x 256 meters makes for a pretty underwhelming outside view as all you see is the wall of the chasm you are sat at the bottom of.
That's fair, and given that rounds of this game are so short, the only consequence is that you have to play a couple rounds to get a sense of the scale, which isn't a particularly bad consequence.
Comments
Thanks for the game! It was a fun puzzle but it took a while for me to figure out what the information meant. I didn't know what the sound one meant and I still don't know what the white icons on the map are.
Amazing experience! The suffocating feeling of a closed space and mounting anxiety, amplified by the oxygen level constantly going down... It is a very atmospheric experience. Loved the puzzle too. I wasn't sure what the fault tolerance for the winning condition was and was so happy that 11m off the spot was accepted! Only after that could I finally exhale in relief!
I also appreciated the little details: books as buttons or the sign "made for Thinky Games jam"! I think the instructions on the wall were a nice touch as well. I didn't notice them right away but the space is small so I saw them very soon. Combined with the game description it gave me a clear picture of the objective of the game.
Would be curious to hear if you plan on expanding the prototype to the full game? If so, what would be the strategy for scaling the core mechanics? Different levels with increasing complexity by adding more moving parts? Or expanding the narrative?
Another question is how to keep the pressure on players as every new won level will probably make them feel more confident.
That was cool once I figured it out, but I would have liked more information about the controls. Like a warning that it's an audio game and makes no sense without the sound on, and a note that the main thing you can interact with is kinda down in the darkness near the floor where there's mostly nothing. Because it took me three or four runs and 5-10 minutes to discover the main mechanic of the game.
Also some hints about the map icons would be nice: I figured out the whales but the other two...? I figured out through trial and error that the trapezoid with the ring on top makes gurgling noises and the... other one makes wooden clunking noises but I have no idea what they're supposed to be.
Thanks for the feedback. The fact that the player is just thrown into the experience & has to figure out what to do & what the 'rules' of the game is 'by design'. That being said, I appreciate that we could have made the iconography for the landmarks and some of the instructions a little bit clearer.
In this prototype, the three types of landmarks we implemented are :
Yeah, that's fair. I think just moving the bow sensor dial and wheel up a bit would have fixed it. And maybe renaming it? Put the dial and the "Hydrophone" light right near each other, and the wheel right near that, and lose the "Bow Sensor" label. I was partly confused by the idea that a bow sensor could turn all the way around and listen backwards, and it took a long time to realize that it had anything to do with the hydrophone light.
Well obviously I had to play this after you added the oxygen meter just for me! I thought this was super well done overall--I'm really impressed with the procedural map generation, and the controls and gameplay were intuitive. The one thing I could have used is a scale on the map because, while I was getting the general location correct, I was having difficulty telling how far away from different landmarks I was.
Thanks for playing! ... reminds me, I still need to post a review for your entry ; longstory short, I played it the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Good remark about the scale of the map. We were pondering whether to include it or not. The reason we went for no scale is two-fold : on one hand it adds to the ambiguity, and on the second hand, the scaling isn't actually 1:1.
For the sake of gameplay and map complexity, depth/height is compressed ; with a 1:1 scale, being in 100m of depth in a map that is about 256 x 256 meters makes for a pretty underwhelming outside view as all you see is the wall of the chasm you are sat at the bottom of.
That's fair, and given that rounds of this game are so short, the only consequence is that you have to play a couple rounds to get a sense of the scale, which isn't a particularly bad consequence.