Skip to main content

Browse GamesGame JamsUpload GameDeveloper LogsCommunity
Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
Mossieur Patate2 years ago(+2)

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

"Experience the last day of your patients and try to solve the mystery of their deaths." -> this reminds me of a science-fiction film where, at the beginning, the hero (possibly Robin Williams?? Not sure) could see the photographic memory of the deceased.

funny how your brother’s pseudonyme has "SmallBug" while yours has "Monsters" XD

just looking at the screen captures: nice typewriter font, seems very fitting :) Same for the grey filter/tint.

On the screen capture with the Deranged: antlers, hood, and one-eye; just as a side note, very esoteric symbolism (many people seem to use them without knowing it, actually! So, just saying).

Controls are layout-independent ! Great. :) (I have an AZERTY keyboard)

Dots to show interactions + dynamic indications: really user-friendly. :) Including the red colour; by the way, tints of grey + red is really great relatively to the theme.

Ah, you can examine things only once! Actually, good to know what has already been done. :) BUT you have not to miss the lines!

in the past: misspelling "themself" -> "themselves" (first one I spotted including the game page; I noticed the writing seemed conscientious :))

Just realizing now that the view (including top-view characters) and flashbacks are reminiscent of "Hotline Miami". :)

dot on lamp not obvious, as there is a circle! XD Really small detail, nothing serious. Suggestion: maybe make the white dots’ opacity ‘oscillate’? This would help ensuring the dots are always visible. Maybe also add a black outline as safety, in case a dot gets displayed on a white element.

You REALLY see the coffee stain rings on the coffee table! X) Awesome attention to detail.

Weird, during the line on drawing people, the camera is centred on a couch with nobody on it (although I sat), and on one of the screen captures, this very same line is displayed while the character is shown sitting at the table… I wonder if it is a bug.

(made it to the line with "innards") The narration is so well written. The noir theme inspired you to make wonders. :) Also like the soft piano music.

Small detail I notice: the walking animation keeps the right frame when you turn. Yes, I am a sucker for checking details. ;)

Seeing the Escapist’s portrait for the very first time: animal + clothes, reminds me once again of "Hotline Miami"! X) Although this is minor. And the Resentful’s portrait reminds me somewhat of the "Parasyte" anime. X)

I love how the portraits represent personalities. :) Reminds me of the Dark World from "A Link to the Past" (remember bunny Link?).

misprint? "somebody who wants to poison" -> "what somebody who wants to poison"

Grand hall: again great music.

A community with a hooded guide, sacrifice (seeing "offal" et "reenact"), and now "myel" (which I see is Ladino; the Wiktionary even gives the Hebrew spelling; reeks of cabalism)! Wow, are you knowledgeable about Freemasonry, by any chance? Because this ceremony sure looks comparable. I may be reading too much into it, but it really strikes me.

Finished the game… My hypothesis still stands, although this may also be a representation of any other ‘sect’.

Takeaway: very atmospheric narrative game, both visually and for the ears, with awesome writing. Having the constraint materialize as a flashback is cunning. The debugging-turned-final feature of dots and the use of colour also made interacting very clear, including knowing whether some action is a point of no return or not. The only and obvious possible criticism I can really think of would be on gameplay: I tend to think having the player as an actor rather than a spectator is paramount, and even if you go for a heavily narrative game, you can still make things less linear or let some guesswork for the player, so if it were just me, I would wish there were something along those lines in the prototype and the final version, but it depends on what you want to achieve, and if your aim is to tell an interactive story, then discard this. ;)

This was a very nice immersive moment, and I also trained my memory of English thanks to some unfrequent words and possibly some new ones (I looked up in dictionaries and read ALL the text — because, you know, that is what I do all the time in games, never want to miss anything or as little as possible XD —, so this testing session once again took me way too much time!). Great, and thanks! :)

Reply
Small Bug Games2 years ago (1 edit)

Thank you for the super detailed comment, this is really helpful feedback! I’ll try to respond to as many points as I can:

nice typewriter font, seems very fitting :)

Thanks! Meta found that hunting around on Google Fonts and specifically picked a creepy and somewhat obscure one to make it feel unique

Controls are layout-independent!

I’m glad other keyboard layouts work, although that was not intentional lol, I guess it’s just a side effect of the library I used

Dots to show interactions + dynamic indications: really user-friendly. :) Including the red colour; by the way, tints of grey + red is really great relatively to the theme.

Thanks! It took a few iterations to get them looking nice. They were originally grey, but they became extremely difficult to see

Ah, you can examine things only once! Actually, good to know what has already been done. :) BUT you have not to miss the lines!

It drives me crazy in games when you can interact with something over and over again and get the same results, this also made some other things slightly easier to code.

Just realizing now that the view (including top-view characters) and flashbacks are reminiscent of “Hotline Miami”. :)

Never played Hotline Miami, I was actually inspired by Darkwood

in the past: misspelling “themself” -> “themselves” (first one I spotted including the game page; I noticed the writing seemed conscientious :))

‘Themself’ is correct grammar when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, or at least that’s what I was taught

dot on lamp not obvious, as there is a circle! XD Really small detail, nothing serious. Suggestion: maybe make the white dots’ opacity ‘oscillate’? This would help ensuring the dots are always visible. Maybe also add a black outline as safety, in case a dot gets displayed on a white element.

The dots originally did have a border, but we thought they looked ugly, but I might experiment with it a little more

You REALLY see the coffee stain rings on the coffee table! X) Awesome attention to detail.

Thanks :), Meta insisted that they be clearly visible

Weird, during the line on drawing people, the camera is centred on a couch with nobody on it (although I sat), and on one of the screen captures, this very same line is displayed while the character is shown sitting at the table… I wonder if it is a bug.

The player is there, but they’re hard to see due to low contrast, I’ll try to fix that for the next patch

Small detail I notice: the walking animation keeps the right frame when you turn. Yes, I am a sucker for checking details. ;)

Me too, I spent way too much time perfecting the player’s walk cycle. Did you notice that the characters shoulders and hands are visible above furniture, but their feet are not? It’s almost never noticeable in game but I spent an entire hour on it lol.

misprint? “somebody who wants to poison” -> “what somebody who wants to poison”

Thx, fixed for next patch

Takeaway: very atmospheric narrative game, both visually and for the ears, with awesome writing. Having the constraint materialize as a flashback is cunning. The debugging-turned-final feature of dots and the use of colour also made interacting very clear, including knowing whether some action is a point of no return or not.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

The only and obvious possible criticism I can really think of would be on gameplay: I tend to think having the player as an actor rather than a spectator is paramount, and even if you go for a heavily narrative game, you can still make things less linear or let some guesswork for the player, so if it were just me, I would wish there were something along those lines in the prototype and the final version, but it depends on what you want to achieve, and if your aim is to tell an interactive story, then discard this. ;)

This was for two reasons:

  • It was easier to code
  • We wanted the story to feel inevitable, we know the Escapist is already dead right? We didn’t want the player to feel like they could have any action that would save the Escapist in order to make the story feel more tragic. We may end up giving the mortician more agency though.
Reply
AboutFAQBlogContact us
Copyright © 2025 itch corp · Directory · Terms · Privacy · Cookies