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Mossieur Patate2 years ago

(I am now in a rush to test as many games as possible to help, so please do not mind the cursory reviewing style.)

Semi-on-the-fly remarks:

"The theme is You are not alone - I tried thinking outside of the box and thought: What if I make a game about an Introvert that is not alone, and needs to get away from everyone before the timer runs out?"

You know what? You were not alone (! Meta-pun not intended XD) in thinking this way. ;) Caught a glimpse of some that did, and tested one that does ("I want to go home (broken)")

Hey, you have 19 votes, so mine will grant you the precious eligibility sesame! :)

nice menu! Including level choice available. :)

music is somewhat dissonant, but I suspect this is so on purpose to depict the nightmare that a house party is to the hero XD

credits: at least two times, misspelling "Commericial"

Controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard), BUT arrow keys are enabled. Unfortunately, Right Shift for running does not work: unpractical for using both the keyboard and mouse at the same time. <:(

interactive tutorial as hinted by the level selection menu, great! :D (and it is crystal-clear)

I like the bobbing while walking. :) TIP: as some other games did, you can also add some head movement for standing still.

Does anxiety increase faster when there are other characters? Does not look like so, but I think this could be an interesting mechanic! And makes things more complicated than learning by heart.

Wow, nice effects/cues when anxiety goes up, especially to the red stage (screen distorsion)! :D

My unhandy controls for running are a handicap… <:S

My GOD, level design is CRAZY!!! <:O I thought this (level 1) would be a piece of cake, turns out it is already HELL!! :o XD

Haha, finding the exit right after!! XD But the maze looked rather complex. I wish I had the time to stare at all the little details! X) Caught that portrait with a horizontally shrinked face, wonder whether this is some reference…

Level 2: my GOD, what size are these houses?! XD Are these mansions??

Gameplay comfort: I am glad the doors stay open, to know where we already passed!! :) Suggestion: add a ‘nightmare’ mode where they close automatically. XD

Doors open only to one side, which can be an inconvenience (pushing you to the side); maybe this is expected! Actually, I feel like this is a hint as to what the correct direction is!

[remark] This game would be a real-life nightmare for me, as I am a super introvert with bad sense of direction XD

All right, time to apply Depth-First Search to level 2! XD

This is die-and-retry, but FUNNY die-and-retry; as in "Outer Wilds" or such other games with a time loop, you get more experience/information each try.

Quitting level 2 after several attempts, I made some progress, but the labyrinth is hellish. :O

Stopped level 3 after only two attempts, as this is hell on earth too, and the clock is running! :o

Takeaway: the concept works incredibly well. The labyrinths are so hellish, you could think they are procedurally generated — but they are not. (Although you may have designed them through some generation algorithm?) The labyrinth concept is classic, but I feel simply putting doors and fast-paced action somewhat add originality! Level design is insanely good. Graphics are cool (the low-polygon characters remind me a little of "Little Big Adventure"), fast-paced music and sounds are great and immersive.

A great impressive game!! Well done!

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ChorcheKork2 years ago(+1)

Wow. Thanks a lot for the feedback!

Thanks a lot for voting on the game, I really appreciate it!

I'm glad you really liked the menu and level selector.

I appreciate the critique on the music, and yes, it was designed to depict the nightmare of the game's lore.

As for the credits, I didn't even notice the spelling mistake lol.

Sorry the controls were hell for you. I'm going to be honest, I wasn't even aware an AZERTY keyboard exists. I learned about that much much later on in the jam, and I'm going to make sure to make the controls proper in my upcoming games.

I'm glad the tutorial was understandable and explained everything correctly, I didn't playtest the game thoroughly, so I wasn't sure if everything was clear.

I'm very glad to hear you liked the headbobbing. I heard that a lot of people don't like headbobbing in games, but I thought it simulated the character's panic really well, plus I just really like it so I would add it anyway. I would definitely add more camera movement to the game, but I ran out of time and needed to move on to other things.

Anxiety doesn't increase faster when other characters are around. In the game, the characters were supposed to be literally everywhere, but I designed the levels first and added the characters later, and they just wouldn't fit in the hallways. I really wanted to expand upon the whole anxiety meter, but most of the things I had planned for it I either couldn't get to work, or didn't have time to add anymore.

Glad you liked the post-processing effects and disorientation when the anxiety bar goes low.

Glad you liked the level design! I designed the first level to be hard, but completable, so the player gets an idea of the game's difficulty. I have put a few easter eggs in the game, including the paintings. All the paintings should have the images in correctly. If the one you saw was horizontally, it is most likely an oversight by me.

The second level I wanted to be hard, but I think I accidentally made it a bit too hard. I was kinda messing around with the maze and then I looked at it from bird's eye view and I was like: Oh no. But it was too late to change it so I just kept the level impossible. And yes, the second level is massive.

The doors needed to stay open so the player doesn't get extremely lost when running around. The game would be literally impossible if they closed on the player. The nightmare mode is a great suggestion!

The doors opening the wrong way are caused by two hallways from different directions being connected. I sadly had no clue how to code the doors to open based on where the player is. It's quite bad because a lot of people (including me) kept getting stuck behind them.

I'm glad you liked the die-and-retry rage game aspect of the game, and understood the strategy aspect of it.

The third level is actually not even that big. In fact, i think it's smaller than the first one. I just designed it to have every room look the same, which made it very disorientating, and even I sometimes couldn't find the exit when I was testing haha.

I'm so  happy you liked the concept of the game! No, the levels were not randomly generated and didn't use any algorithm. I was actually kind of mad when I was making the game because I really wanted to make them randomly generated, as it would make the game design process a lot faster and easier as well as the gameplay. However I am quite new to game dev and had no idea how procedural generation works. Really glad you liked the fast paced labyrinth crashing, it's very appreciated! I don't know if the game is really original, but thanks a lot for the high praise! Really glad you like the level design and the graphics. I was going for a PS1 style for them, but they ended up being just a regular low poly style. Thanks a lot for this great comment, it massively helped! I'm definitely going to take a lot of your feedback and use it if I ever make a remake of this game!

PS: Don't count how many times I said glad in this entire comment section.

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Mossieur Patate2 years ago (1 edit)
I'm going to be honest, I wasn't even aware an AZERTY keyboard exists. I learned about that much much later on in the jam, and I'm going to make sure to make the controls proper in my upcoming games.

PROTIP: it is very easy to achieve: simply program according to the physical position of the keys. :) Most (if not all?) video game APIs provide such a feature.

I heard that a lot of people don't like headbobbing in games, but I thought it simulated the character's panic really well

Agreed, I felt the same way!

If the one you saw was horizontally, it is most likely an oversight by me.

Oops, I may have been a little ambiguous, there! What I meant was that the horizontal dimension was (voluntarily, I think) shrinked, not that the portrait was sideways.

The second level I wanted to be hard, but I think I accidentally made it a bit too hard. I was kinda messing around with the maze and then I looked at it from bird's eye view and I was like: Oh no. But it was too late to change it so I just kept the level impossible. And yes, the second level is massive.

This is hilarious, I was wondering if I was somewhat bad! XD This blunder may have cost my vote to some games from my final rush, although I should have been more reasonable and call it quits sooner…

The doors opening the wrong way are caused by two hallways from different directions being connected.

I still feel this is some kind of clue as to how the labyrinth was conceived, so it helped my intuition. ;) Plus, in reality, many doors do open only from one side, so this is realistic!

The third level is actually not even that big. In fact, i think it's smaller than the first one. I just designed it to have every room look the same, which made it very disorientating, and even I sometimes couldn't find the exit when I was testing haha.

This is great, because it means you managed to find another way of having difficulty in a level! :) Variety through level design. I will say again that level design may well be the defining feature that makes your game shine (although all the rest is nice).

However I am quite new to game dev and had no idea how procedural generation works.

Ah, I could just steer you towards graph theory! :) Actually, as a semi-coincidence, see my mention of ‘Depth-First Search’ in my previous comment? The main concept is graph traversal algorithms. For example, you can use such an algorithm to ‘dig’ a labyrinth throughout a graph (and a 2D-grid is a particular graph!). This defines places for rooms and doors/connections automatically (depending on some number/quantity parameter). Once this has been performed, you can assign some room content template (or even more fine-grained random content) for each room. :)

You can look for explanations on how The Binding of Isaac’s style of procedural generation works, for instance; I know some French content for both the code (from 8:53 to 9:38) and concept, but it should be easy to find, I guess. :) This is actually no rocket science! (… But it is graph theory. XD) (I realize the probability that you speak French must be low seeing you did not know about AZERTY. XD But who knows!)

I don't know if the game is really original,

I wondered too, not knowing every game ever made (far from it, actually!), but I really think the just-run-through-the-doors concept is something I had not seen. I think originality might be the only point up to debate; to be transparent, this is the only criterion where I gave the game a 4 instead of a 5. ;)

Conclusion: I am glad you are glad. ;))

Question I had forgotten to ask: when you win level 3, does something happen?

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ChorcheKork2 years ago(+1)

I'm definitely going to look into the AZERTY integration in my next games, thanks a lot for that.

Oh, I get what you meant by the portrait now, yeah I shrunk some of the images a little bit so they could fit in the frame properly. Which I now realise I could've just made the frame bigger, but whatever.


As for the doors, yes while it may be realistic for doors to open one way, it isn't very realistic when they push you behind them and get you stuck for all eternity.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion in graph theory, I'll definitely look into it! The binding of Isaac has still the best procedural generation imo. Sadly I do not speak french, but I intend to learn it at some point!


Conclusion: I am glad you're glad I'm glad (I couldn't resist)

To answer your question, yes the game shows an ending screen after you beat level 3 with some high quality written lore.

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Mossieur Patate2 years ago

On a roll of coming back to former comments and games (I have been SO busy I have missed out on a lot of things… :O):

    the game shows an ending screen after you beat level 3 with some high quality written lore

So, I will definitely try beating level 3, since you said it is not as crazy as number 2. X) But I will pass on said number 2, I think!

To pick up on your other answer:

    I also regret not rating and playing many games on this jam, I only played about 40.

I ALWAYS end up playing so much less than I wished (I would play everything if I could!!). In my case, this is because I am so pernickety, testing so many details and writing them down… I must have some kind of problem. XD I still plan on playing games from passed game jams that I did not have time for and leave a review! :) By the way, you can too. ;)

    It's just so strange to me how the game could win the theme category, I just can't believe what I'm seeing.

I already thought that when there is such a massive amount of various games, it is not always obvious nor even reasonable to think you can compare everything linearly, and I have come to the conclusion that when a game clicks with people, they tend to give it higher marks all round. For instance, I want to go home had a pretty similar interpretation of the theme as your game, but made less of an impression, and I noticed it had a lesser mark for Theme, which I think is unfair (checking my own personal notes, I am glad I did assign it a 5 for Theme too; I am very little suggestible and try to analyse every aspect of the games fairly). Your game has a playable and crazy vibe that makes it work, as well as coherent aesthetics.

I am saying that while my own tiny prototype still worked as being seen as innovative! X) I was merry about it, but you never know. On the contrary, I was very happy with my recent endeavour for Ludum Dare 51 with respect to innovation, and it did not receive such votes, despite what some detailed comments said; and a game that is admittedly based on Minit / Outer Wilds rocked the Innovation criterion — which is super weird (nothing against the creator and his work, but I think some voters behave erratically, and it also depends on which type of players come to your game, which in turn depends on a variety of factors, such as having a navigator version and other technicalities): this is why you should really beware raw marks, sincere thoughtful feedback is the core wiser part.

    I really owe you for that last vote, I'll get you like an 8-bit beer or something haha

Ironically, I discovered only shortly after the end of the event that the videos were discontinued before, so, you only get written credit on the main page. X) But as I said, the quality of the game (and it is real! Sometimes, votes are unfair, but I think your game really has something) is the real takeaway. As for beer: I do not drink it. XD But thanks!

I do not know if you have plans for your game, but maybe you can make it even ‘fuller’ and reach out. Anyway, all the best.

Maybe see you for another game someday! :)

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ChorcheKork2 years ago(+1)

I am very upset that I didn't play as many games as I would like this jam, I would also play them all if I could! I appreciate people like you a lot, since such a detailed review and feedback helps MASSIVELY. I don't know if I'll return to the games I missed this jam, I'm quite not in the "jamming mood" anymore and I'm busy working on other projects.

Yeah, you really can't compare anything when participating in a jam. I thought there's not even a single chance this game would win, yet somehow - it did. I didn't even go into the jam with the mindset of ,,I must win!", I just wanted to participate and challenge myself. I am a bit mad though that people tend to troll on the jam and give every game a bad rating, so theirs would win or so that it has a lower chance of winning. I was shocked to see all the cool games that were so much better than mine  being placed on like 780th place. I also feel kind of upset that I won my first jam, because it just doesn't feel normal (I'm weird I know XD).

Yeah, it sucks you can't even make it into a Brackeys video anymore, but I do respect their decision and wish them well in whatever they decided to do. They don't even say who won on their community tab anymore, which sucks. But I don't care, as stated above, I didn't go into this for winning or fame, I went into this for fun. I still don't believe for even a second that my game is good, but thank you.

I'm still not sure if I want to make a sequel to Introvert yet or not, but I am currently working on another game. Not decided yet if I'm going to release it or not, but the development is going really well so far!

I also wish you all the best and I hope to see you on another jam some day.

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Mossieur Patate2 years ago

Glad(! XD) to see you also do not equate votes with quality. I have played about 40 too. I think on ‘Overall’ criterion would be nice, because I realize some games are great but do not benefit enough from specific criteria; for example, PLAT Inc. has an impressive amount of content (I could not reach the end because it becomes so hard, so, this one is on my to-finish list XD). It would be on my recommendation list if I was tasked with drawing one up. (I realize you played the game too!)

I appreciate people like you a lot, since such a detailed review and feedback helps MASSIVELY.

Thanks! :) I figured people enjoyed detailed accounts, including the semi-log part (which is like the substance of filmed playtests, but easier to look up).

I'm quite not in the "jamming mood" anymore and I'm busy working on other projects. […] I am currently working on another game. Not decided yet if I'm going to release it or not, but the development is going really well so far!

After a streak of game jams (my first one was this year too, actually!!), I am also going on a pause (I mean, from contests!) and working on my own on some games. I think I will develop several of the prototypes that came out from them (especially Cursed Ghosts and Breathe Heart). :) And I have a ginormously ambitious reflection/puzzle game project, called Terminal, whose idea I have been floating since 2019 and compiled a gigantic list of ideas. What stopped me was that I wanted to use the right tools (especially framework/engine), but after expanding my knowledge of what is available, I am still wavering between MonoGame (whose OOP I realized is not a good thing — thank you, Brian Will — but where I guess I can use some ECS around here), Godot (which I am currently diving in), and Bevy (which looks interesting but is still under development, at version 0.8, and the Rust language is interesting but not that easy to get a handle on; so, less chances for this one). Since your own first game jam attempt ended so well, there is no reason my first big project attempt does not work well. ;p So, not putting all my eggs in one basket, but I really have high hopes for this one! Tell me if yours (or even a demonstration) gets available somewhere one day. :) (Mine is for the more distant future.)

I hope to see you on another jam some day.

I may still partake in some; I think one with a longer time span would be a good idea. (The seven days for Brackeys is nice, for example, but I came in at the very last moment… XD) I have been diversifying and now dabbling in Game Boy development (which is super interesting, but I tend to find everything interesting :p), so if I find an interesting Game Boy game jam once I feel comfortable enough, I may try it. (GBJam 10 was too close!)

By the way… JUST BEAT LEVEL 3!!! (Spoiler: I had somehow managed to miss the right path from the very first leftward door, and was convinced I had to start from the rightward one, which explains why I was getting crazy not finding the exit. XD I liked the detail of the angel at the end!)

‘short’… LIES!!

From the previous screen: but who is Larry? X)

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ChorcheKork2 years ago

Yeah I ragequitted PLAT Inc. But it was fun though. 

I wish you good luck on Terminal, sounds like a cool game. I'm not an expert so my recommendations should not really be a thing you should listen to, but I think Unity is a great engine for 2D games, if that's what your puzzle game is.  Godot is pretty good as well but I've heard it's not as polished as Unity or Unreal (which makes sense given that it's the newest one of them all). My project might be available as a demo or as a full game in the future, but I'm currently struggling with my toxic relationship with Unity's animation system.

I will definitely keep competing in Jams, I think it's really fun. By Gameboy, do you mean the legendary old console or...? 

I'm glad to see you managed to finish the game. Also I can't really make out what that timer/clock on that photo is, but if that's a speedrun timer then I salute you! 

Also

Larry is love, Larry is life.

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Mossieur Patate1 year ago (2 edits)

As I have just read Heater Kicker’s game page (and devlog) and am about to finally test the game (sorry for the little delay!!), I realize I left some questions unanswered!…

Thanks for the suggestions; there are a monstrous amount of available options for frameworks and engines, actually, especially for 2D. I will not be using Unity for several reasons (including the fact that if the game is one day really successful — who knows! —, there will be royalties for them, and I disapprove some of their behaviours, especially collaborating with military drone projects and how dependent you can become by binding yourself to this tool) ; I intend to actually mix 2D with some simple 3D (it should be one of the twists), so I do not have humongous technological 3D needs, which is why both Godot and MonoGame could do the trick. Not saying that Unity is not useful for prototypes and small projects as you did (I even have relatives that use it this way), but I tend to be extremely wary of dependence to not-always kindly people and institutions. But I digress. :p

By the way, since you seem interested, the main concept is linked to ‘games inside games’; if you know the film Inception, you should get the general idea. :) I still have to really put things together, although I tend to think I will use MonoGame, and am currently setting some things straight in my life (only positive things!); you may get news one day. :)

By Gameboy, do you mean the legendary old console or...?

Yes, good old Game Boy. :) Watch out for using the word ‘old’, I have one! XD But seriously, the Game Boy has a special vibe, both in game style and sounds, that I am fond of. Sometimes, technological constraints bring out the best creativity.

I'm glad to see you managed to finish the game.

Well, not totally finished since one level beat me… :o

Also I can't really make out what that timer/clock on that photo is, but if that's a speedrun timer then I salute you!

Actually, the timer on the screen capture is from Pomofocus, a piece of software that implements the Pomodoro method. Which I recommend, especially in case you have any procrastination problem. :) I left it on several captures as a subtle promotion of the method, since I think it can definitely help people out. ;)

Larry is love, Larry is life.

I searched a bit, and this looks like a meme, but I cannot quite make out what this is about. X)

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ChorcheKork1 year ago

Well I have to admit, when it comes to royalties, Unity is like a vulture with how much money it takes compared to other engines. In my opinion, recent events with Unity have been very strange, with the merging with IronSource or the fact that the CEO called indie devs stupid idiots or something like that. I was actually considering switching to Unreal, but I’m not yet sure. I’m really trying to live by caring for a game’s community and it’s feedback.

Your game sounds really cool! Let me know when even just a demo is available, I’d love to check it out.

Game boy is a really cool console! I’d love to get my hands on it one day, but where I come from, shipping tends to cost 80 times more than the actual product. I think it’s a shame that older consoles are getting harder to get, because the games on them were great and so nostalgic.

Larry is just an inside joke. I am one of those people that instead of naming their character models things like “NPC_Town_01”, I name them random names like Jeff, Jeremy, Larry, Barry…

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ChorcheKork1 year ago

Hey! How are you doing? I’m sorry for reaching out through here, itch doesn’t have a messaging system. How are your projects coming along? I’ve just released a new game that I’ve worked on for a few weeks and I was wondering if you would be interested in checking it out?

There are a few known bugs I’ve found through other players, one of which includes multipliers not working (seriously recommend an AutoClicker because of this) and I will get to work on fixing them ASAP.

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Mossieur Patate1 year ago

Hello! I have been busy with different things (some video-game-related and some not), but I will take a look soon. :)
(A messaging system would indeed be great… Otherwise, I guess some other account or server can help.)
Thanks for letting me know!

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