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Homing's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Graphics | #23 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Polish | #29 | 3.720 | 3.720 |
| Overall | #78 | 3.136 | 3.136 |
| Innovation | #125 | 2.640 | 2.640 |
| Theme | #133 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
| Gameplay | #133 | 2.520 | 2.520 |
Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What category are you in?
How does your game relate to the theme?
I incorporated the theme of "polarity" in making your character follow their instincts (shown as a compass to the player) to find their way home, and also of the opposition attraction of the soldiers. I was inspired by homing pigeons and magnetoreception, which explain how some animals are able to navigate so well as they are attracted to an area.
Specify any and all pre-made assets in your submission.
AUDIO:
Gunshot: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/single-gunshot-54-40780/
Alarm: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/warning-alarm-loop-279206/
Wood break: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/wood-break-40011/
Animal walking: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/animal-walking-right-to-left-192403/
Night woods: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/night-woods-7012/
Angry crowd: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/angry-crowd-70647/
All audio credits can also be found in the "About" menu of the game.
I used Ren'Py to code this game, but during the timeline of this challenge I heavily edited and customized my game as you can tell.
How many team members does your team have in total?1
By submitting, you agree to all the rules listed.
Does your game utilize Wolfram Language?
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Comments
Woah this is a completely new and different take on the theme compared to the rest of the games I've seen! Very unique and I sort of wish it was longer haha. Overall I really liked it!!
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
so cool!!! how'd you do the compass?
Thank you!! I'm a pretty new coder so my apologies if I'm not wording this right -- basically for the compass I just defined a different transformation for each direction I wanted it to point ("left", "right", etc), put a couple different rotations under each definition so that the arrow would never be still, and then called those defined transformations for each different scene. The circle in the back of the arrow was a separate image so that the arrow could move by itself.
Thanks for playing!
dude it's amazing!! good job good job very many good jobs
Wow, this game was really unique and an interesting story as well. I agree with others that the gameplay is lacking, but I think the story and mood is really nice. I think if it was a bit longer and went more in depth with the storyline, as well as adding a few new gameplay mechanics, it would be even better. Overall, nice submission!
Thanks! Yes I totally agree, I would've loved to go more in-depth / have more events you can make choices on but was running out of time. Will look into it more if I do another version of the game for sure though. Thanks for playing!
I enjoyed the fun twist at the main ending of the game! The art was very good. A suggestion for what you could add on would be to add more dynamic choices based on the compass, like picking from more directions than just left and right. Nice work!
Ooooo good idea, I'll look into that! Thanks for playing!
Great art! I like it when people make unique games :) I didn't fully understand the gameplay like i was just following the compass and made it to the finish haha maybe i'm just used to intensity and challange
I see it as a story game rather than a challenge game -- but yes I'll look into making it clearer what the compass represents! Now that you say that, I think I can open the story in a different way that is more understandable. The compass was meant to represent the internal navigation system that some animals have, like homing pigeons and such.
Thanks for playing!
that's really cood i didn't know that about animals! :)
Definitely a unique experience, I had a good time playing it. The alarm was a screamer though :), maybe you could make it a little quieter.
I actually just pushed out a new update fixing the alarm! Available to download now if you are interested, no need to replay though.
Thanks for checking out the game, I'm glad you had a good time!
Cool game!
Nice art. Good Job
Keep it up
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Awesome game! I really liked the artstyle, but I gotta add that I've gotten a couple bugs related to getting stuck in a loop, and as previously mentioned in the comments, the alarm sound was a bit offputting. Other than that, the game is a very solid entry!
Darn! I'll look into the loop issue, do you remember if/if not the alarm was playing at the time and if the forest background was getting darker or lighter (how I coded it was basically a level system with if-else statements, so I'm trying to locate on which level(s) it messed up)?
Thanks for playing!
I muted the alarm sound😭
It happened when the first "RUN!" text appeared after I killed the soldier
Gotcha! That lowers it down a bit -- do you recall if the forest background was on the darker or lighter side at the time? And what did the game do when you were looping?
(The "Soldier with Alarm" / first "Run!" text could appear on most forest levels because the alarm encounter is timed to happen after 7 turns of choosing a direction, which is why I ask about the brightness of the background as that would help me narrow down what "level" you were on)
Thanks for helping me out on this!
The art is really nice! I think it would be cool if there were more complex gameplay elements and endings, but this is a cool start. I also thought the little reveal at the end was clever
I agree completely! Thanks for playing, I'm glad you liked the reveal.
I'm sorry, I could not play. The alarm sound was too loud and too sudden it made me kinda sick, idk, triggered me in a really bad way. Closed instantly and came here to give this feedback ><. Maybe a sound warning text could help
OOF I'm so sorry about that! Yes, someone else was commenting about the sliders not working either for the alarm. I looked into it and realized it's probably because I created a new audio channel for the alarm specifically and Ren'Py didn't like that (eye-roll moment), so it doesn't correspond to any sliders. You can still press "Mute All" in the game menu or turn your computer volume down as low as it goes in this version -- next version I'm definitely lowering the alarm volume generally and also figuring out the slider issue!
pretty cute game! I liked the reveal at the end. Very nice art as well.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked the reveal!
A strong opponent appeared on the Novice category... Now seriously, I liked the neat art style and the sounds that were implemented where possible. I haven't seen many games made with Ren'Ry, but your game made it look less like a Visual Novele and more like and adventure type game! A promising submission. Good luck in the voting period!
Thank you so much, I appreciate it!
The game did not startin Edge but in Chrome. I played through two times. A nice game with a simple but motivating goal. Art is nice and it's an interesting concept. Nice entry! :D
Thanks for letting me know, I'll look into that! I'm glad you enjoyed the game, thanks for playing!
very cool game!
Thank you!
very nice artwork.
I think there may be a some sound bug, the SFX slider didnt turn down the alarm for me
Oh no, thanks for letting me know! I'll definitely see about fixing that if I do another iteration.
very cool artwork!
if you don't read the description, the gameplay can seem a bit boring, and honestly, I didn't initially understand what the polarity mechanics were in this game.
I love the art of the game, It is very polished
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Looks smooth)
Thanks!