itch.io

Check out the latest version. You can access the settings menu by pressing Esc during gameplay. 
Thanks!

You can try out the VR version here. It hasn't been updated in a few years though and has known issues with recent versions of SteamVR on some machines, but feel free to give it a shot!

Working on adding those options! For now, I'd recommend playing with a XBox controller if that is available to you

Thanks, man! Really appreciate the video and your kind words!

Embedded is a game about photojournalism, editorial choices, and the ways in which the media shapes public perception. It gives you the power to determine how the narrative of war is presented in American media and addresses the moral quandaries inherent in generating news.

https://joewise.itch.io/embedded

Thanks! The specific keys on the keyboard thing is definitely something we want to add later.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree it needs a writing pass to punch up the jokes for a future iteration.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree it can get rote after a while. We plan to add more modules and prompts to make the gameplay more varied and hopefully keep it interesting for longer.

The polish here is wild. Beautiful looking game and great music and sound. Very smart to put that NES with the candle on display at all times as it is gorgeous. Would have loved to see that candle flicker and smoke from the incense to waft.

However, I do have to say that the gameplay didn't keep me engaged. I made it to level 7 where there were 3 different enemy types, but it was never dynamic enough for my taste. The attacks are nice, but it got repetitive at that point. Sometimes you get stuck after killing all of the enemies in a level and have to wait until the control bubble comes near you so you can hit it and progress. Might work better if you got all of your control back if all the enemies were killed.

I can see you worked very hard on the art and I think that is very impressive. I'd love to see your skill applied in future games! Keep up the good work.

Great concept, really well polished. Only made it to the third level and got stuck, but I played that third level for a long time so you're doing something right. Sound, music, and art are all great and really well polished. Felt like I could hear that robot crashing a lot and still like it.  I thought the difficulty was too hard for my simple brain, but maybe I just couldn't figure it out! good job!

I really like the concept for this and I think you could use it to great effect in a larger puzzle game.

The wheels move very slowly which forces the player to wait long periods of time to get to the next objective. I'd love to see a version of this where players can control the speed of the wheels. Clicking to change the direction of the wheels was confusing at first, but once I understood it, it made sense. 

I would be down to play a fuller fleshed out version of this concept. Good work!

The feeling of jumping in the game is very nice and felt like I could just do that for a while. However, making progress is very difficult. Not being in control of the direction you move is already a difficult premise, so making the walls you have to progress through invisible just seems cruel to the player. If you had better control, sure invisible walls are fine, but with no control it increases the difficulty a lot. Maybe this is just me, but I kept getting confused about which direction the arrow indicated I could jump. My brain wanted it to be rocket trail, so I get thinking backwards was forwards. Again that may just be my brain.

Good work overall!

Art looks very good in this game. Gets across the tone you're going for very nicely. It's fun to watch the animals destroy the objects.

My biggest complaint is the use of arrow keys and mouse simultaneously. Since i used a mouse with my right hand, I had to reach my left hand over to the arrow keys which isn't comfortable. I would just swap the arrow keys with WASD, or better get make the camera move when the mouse is at the edge of the screen like in an RTS.

Good work!

Great concept! Had a lot of fun with this one and played 5 rounds, though never could get past 108. Love how the health was represented by the size of the cells. It's awesome to watch all of the cells swarming.  The shape and way the multi-celled enemies moved was really cool. Loved the additional projectile upgrade. Really makes things go crazy.
I would love to see what this looks like with a a more detailed art style. Single flat colors looks good here, but I can imagine with a good artist, this game could really pop. 

I did feel like the upgrades slowing down time was a bit intrusive to the flow of the gameplay. The first time, it was nice because I needed to read to see what the upgrades were, but once I understood what was going with them, I could feel my flow getting interrupted by the game slowing down. Might be nice if the upgrades were on the side and popped up whenever you leveled up without slowing down time.

I still am not entirely sure what left and right click do. I believe one forces all of the cells to move to that spot, and the other lets them roam and attack as they please? I'm really not sure of the second one because it still puts down a dot on the map which to me indicates a place that cells should be moving to. This should be clarified. Maybe an animation of each of those things on the main menu could help. The font size on the instructions needed to be bigger as well.

Overall I had a lot of fun with it! Didn't mean to write this much, but I wouldn't have if I didn't think this game really hit on something for me.  Added to my collection and I'd love to see what a post-jam version looks like!

Thanks! That was definitely one of our inspirations

Really liked the aesthetic and the lighting on the ship looks great. The gameplay, however, gets repetitive pretty fast and it's easy enough hold space without moving and still be able to rack up kills. Maybe some enemy types could be working to kill you and you need to prioritize killing them first. Definitely needs some more dynamic interactions.

Fun idea! I did get stuck inside a single open space, however. Might be nice if the hit box size was the size of 1 segment of a tetromino so you could fit through tight squeezes. I felt the controls were too slippery so it was too hard to just move over one segment length. I wish there was some more telegraphing that the pieces were about to go into slam-mode so I could plan a bit more.

Overall, a neat idea that I wanted to play more. Definitely worthy of post-jam pursuits!

Cool idea! I definitely finished wanted more which is a great sign. Sound could use some variation as hearing the same exact effect repeat could be grating. I would love to see more levels after the jam is over

Really cool framing concept and great art. Would love the see the mechanics expanded and a full story built out.

Got the start of something really cool here! Even without resource management or a real end state, the core loop of flying around and dropping water is very enjoyable! Definitely keep working on this one

Thanks!

Love it!

Wow. This rules.

Hi, you can email us at embeddedthegame AT gmail.com

Thanks!

A VR photography game inspired by Pokemon Snap and war-time photojournalism.

https://joewise.itch.io/embedded

Embedded is a virtual-reality game about photojournalism, editorial choices, and how the media shapes public perception. In the game, the player takes on the role of an embedded photojournalist covering US involvement in the Vietnam War. Ride along with American soldiers as they carry out a mission, and document what you see with your camera; you may see soldiers performing acts of heroism, or perhaps refugees fleeing their homes. The images you capture portray sentiments ranging from pro-war to anti-war and are graded on their artistic composition. At the field office, interview several soldiers with different questions that can also be used to express different attitudes towards the ongoing war. When it’s time to report back to your editor, choose which photos to submit for publication, and decide which narrative of the war you wish to depict.

What kind of article will you publish? What will the tone of the article be? What kind of publication will it be published in? The answers to these questions are all based on your work in the game: your interviews, and the subject and technical quality of your photos.

Embedded gives you the power to change how the narrative of war is presented in the American media. It expresses the moral quandary of generating news, addressing biases in reporting, and making choices that ultimately decide how the public will feel: is the war a necessary, patriotic action, or a haphazard and cruel one?