itch.io

I am disheartened by the negativity here. I'm glad it's over, but I believe no one sets out to make a bad product.

Thanks for telling me the alt+f4 combo. I didn't know such a possibility was there in the first place.

If it was finished, I could have played it and give the three categories two stars or above. Suffice to say this is the weakest showing of the three projects, even though this is the one I was involved in. A friend told me this was the result of several teammates not cooperating and being demotivated in general, which is a really bad thing to have in game development. It's okay to take breaks occasionally, but not doing much on a regular basis will seriously result in getting lesser roles, or worse fired. Games are a business, so let's hope this doesn't happen again especially in a few years time.

The visuals are muted, yet clean with good contrast, and the music that plays is quite catchy despite getting repetitive after a while. There are very few sound effects, but what's there is high quality. The camera filter when controlling the other body parts is a great touch, but there seems to be some rough code considering the filter or muffled sound don't go away.

Then there's the gameplay, which is quite flawed in some places but has enough good to save it. The control for the head is too heavy for my liking in addition to being inconsistent; it carries so much momentum, yet the momentum is killed quickly by either bouncing or sending off, and the spring sometimes influencing the rotation adds needless clunk. The hand is the best controlling of the bunch, but there is the minor collision hiccup which is thankfully not an issue thanks to thoughtful level design. The legs have weird jumping, and the top is underutilised. Even still, this variety in the gameplay is very appreciative and helps to break up the monotony.

The strongest quality is the level design. it feels really well built for the physics in mind, and while I don't like the physics it never got to the point of being overly tedious. Frustrating undoubtedly, and could use a lot of smoothing, but in a way that was compelling and satisfying after some practice. The keyboard layout is good, and the less linear structure gives substance to the exploration and backtracking. I criticised 'Child's Awakening' for having a button to go through a door given the context of its design, but here it makes sense; there's multiple doors and there's no way of avoiding any, so going through via button pressing makes exploring more intuitive and logical.

The biggest annoyance with this project is it doesn't seem to have a quitting feature. Once the game ends the screen is stuck there. I had to turn the computer off just to quit. Such an oversight.

Conclusion: This is a solid project with nice variety and fun exploration. Just some tweaking in the play control and some polish in the code and I'd have no legit issues. Otherwise, this is good fun to play despite the frustration. 6/10.

The best parts of the game are the visuals, sound, and atmosphere. The art style has a chalkboard aesthetic that fits the game well and adds a lot of charm. The music is both spooky and sort of catchy and soothing at the same time, and the sound effects are appropriate. Enhancing it all is the story. Finding written paper and piecing the story together is satisfying, and there's a sense of mystery and tragedy that succeeds in getting emotion out of the player. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a proper resolution for it all, and the story isn't set up in a way that hints at such an anticlimax coming. It's cool seeing the child in chains, but it's underwhelming to walk off the right edge and suddenly have the game end there. Despite that, this is a genuinely scary experience with a lot of promise.

What holds the experience back from its full potential is the gameplay. The control scheme is a mixed bag. Aiming the torch with a mouse is intuitive and easy to do, but the keyboard layout is a bit cumbersome. Space for jumping and A & D for moving means having to space the fingers and thumb out in a way that's awkward and not very intuitive. Having W also be jump would be nice, same for the right click on the mouse. I also don't see the point of having to press a button for a door given the amount of space the player is given in relation to them. Lighting platforms with the torch is also clunky, as you have to light it at all times to land on them which adds unnecessary frustration. The collision is also questionable; I found myself sliding off some platforms if I'm too close to the edge, which isn't bad but does take away from the precision of the platforming. Lastly, having your character die upon running out of battery makes no sense; the only punishment for not having the torch on is not being able to see platforms and deadly ghosts. If this was done to prevent the player from getting stuck, a suicide button would have done the job.

Conclusion: This is a fascinating project with a lot of potential to be a genuinely fun and compelling 2D platforming horror game. If the gameplay was less clunky and had better design, and the story was able to end on a satisfying note, it would be an undeniable classic. Considering this is a project and not really a full game, that potential has a second chance to be fully realised someday. Overall, an admirable, if often tedious effort. 5/10.