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Fun little puzzle. I really appreciated how smooth and slick the interface was - the strictly vertical movement of the magnifying glass, the runes written on the pad. Little touches like that in UI, sound, and art in this entry went a long way. Excellent submission.

I spent a long time playing tetris, scoring 2700+, and did not finish the main story. The balance of pacing between gameplay and exposition is really off here. I did quite enjoy the gameplay as I listened to the wonderful music. Good work

Very fun game. The first time my flashlight ran out while I was inside a house, and I was trapped by tentacles, was a bit harrowing. Spooky stuff

I am unable to make it out of the first room. 

This is a fun game, I love the floating head and exposition. The fun factor was limited, for me, by my jump height being exactly the same as the tile height.

Very fun exposition and atmosphere with the droning music, the detailed statues, and the rather intuitive flow of the levels. Good work!

Hi Jordan,

Sorry to speak so harshly about the body's texture and the map layout!

I probably should have figured the body was a build issue based on the overall quality of the submission otherwise. May I ask, are there more than four tapes? And.. how many are through underwater areas?

Let me apologize for calling the layout "copy-pasted". That was spoken in haste and in truth I never thought that it was actually tiled, repeated, or anything like that. The layout was very identifiable, I guess what I meant to say is that a map which played more with distant lights and dark areas between to plot and plan a route to navigate from afar (like you're on a mountain ridge during a hike, say), would be more interesting. I say this only because there was one really good area, looking up a steep tunnel at the secret exit above a camp, that this was present in the game. It was a very compelling, atmospheric spot for me. 

Again kudos to you and the team!

Received! Thank you, I'll send a reply tomorrow. 😄

Really solid concept. Some frustration came up from the level design, hide and seek, and lack of freedom to, y'know, not murder my five closest comrades.

Of all the areas to improve - as a shooter, as a game of hide and seek, as science fiction - I would like to see more lore. The orb, the station, and the crewmates all felt flat. It's fully playable in 30 min or less as you learn the station. That is, admittedly, probably too long for the amount of real content.

But, good work putting all this together in one week, it is a compelling experience. No glitches, fast and nostalgic movement, cosmic horror. Glory to mankind.

This game is FREAKY!

When the first rumble came in, it scared me.
When the I first realized the glowsticks actually will go out, I shivered.
And when I tried to exit via the ladder and the game wouldn't let me (presumably because I hadn't gotten all the data?), and sent a chorus of demonic whispers into my ear, I got chills!

Overall a very cohesive, polished experience with incredible atmosphere.

Since this was so well made, I am going to give a bit more stringent criticism as well - all in the spirit of improvement.

First, remember "show don't tell". I was having a genuinely horrifying cosmic experience - confronting my basic fear of the dark unknown - that the characters in the game were supposed to be having, too. But they didn't seem freaked out at all. It was only on tape four that anyone even mentioned leaving. He finally sounded a little scared, but the voice acting didn't quite convince me - although it was well-delivered and recorded. Maybe a change of scenery - the woods with coyotes out? Actually get them scared.

And, write more than you record. Build up the backstory and lore of the deep, way beyond what's on the tapes. "There's something ancient here" feels like checking a cosmic horror box off. I'm not interested in learning more, because I don't believe there is more there. "We disturbed a pile of rocks, and found some bones and strange carved ruins underneath" - ok, what is that? What is that? I want to know, even though I don't.

Finally, narrow your scope a bit. There is one cot that has an untextured body on it. That really took me away from the game. I get that you were turning up the horror, with the bloodstains and the progressively worsening situation on the audio logs, and probably just ran out of time. But it would have been better with no body.

One other note. I think level design is key for this, obviously, with the (very unique & engaging) glow stick mechanic. There were a couple sneaky intersections that threw me for a loop, and one secret overlook of an encampment. A lot of the other areas were just copy-pasted tunnels. You had to add a proximity light, undercutting the glowstick mechanic, to help navigate it. Better level design, that guides your eyes and movement towards certain key landmarks and subtly away from the secret (in a telling way), would elevate the experience immensely.

Again, this is a great game and my criticism is only intended to help. Well done.

Why sure, I'm interested. You can email me details at p33r future games (at) gmail.com. The threes being e's, and no spaces. Thank you for reaching out, I look forward to discussing more. :)

Thank you, that is very kind! I'm pleased you got something out of it even without the full context of the Mothership rules.

There's a lot of backstory that I had to cut due to space, but it definitely helped set the scene. Cheers!

Fun concept and well designed. I teleported into another level for a little bit one time when leaving a puddle. Pretty challenging to survive whenever the monsters got you in their sights, but I appreciated the frequent checkpoints too. Good work.

The lack of more expressive mechanics or a tutorial really held back my experience playing this. I had one ability which hit the two front units and pushed, and one which hit the two back and pulled. Flip-flopping enemies across the middle line, particularly when 3/4 were just bodies taking up space, was not super fun or tactical. Still, great work for having a complete and bugfree menu and gameplay loop. It really needs a basic tutorial and more informative UI before anything else.

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It connected to the SCP lore well and I found myself reflecting on that web of stories. Feeling like a staff member, or more likely D-Class, who drew the short stick. Wishing to be back in the breakroom, joking about whether an anomaly was growing in the coffee maker or not. Nice work.

Very fun and chill little game. Loved the building sprites and cute monsters.

Congratulations! As a first entry it's superb. I commend you for finishing a full story, gameplay loop (with multiple endings!), and UI/menu system. Keep up the good work.

Would love to have had a depth gauge/readout to better balance the elevator rate and the sanity meter.

My strategy was basically "Hide under a blanket and point the flashlight everywhere." Same strat I've been using since I was a kid. It's always kept the monsters away and it worked pretty well here, too. Great art, would love to see more.

This was a really fun and thoughtful set-up. Very cosmic, very horror. Very grounded. While not a big fan of this style of RPG, I appreciated the experience a lot. Very different exploration of the far future than, say, Infiniminer or No Man's Sky. The ending was sudden, and appropriate. Great work.

Got it. Thanks for sharing.

Is this your first game jam?

Fun game. Use the mouse pointer as a third eye is very meta, and very cosmic. Appreciated the quick respawn times and being able to wall jump off the same wall, as going across wall-to-wall was pretty challenging for me with the low "stickiness" of the character. Good work!

A gorgeous and morbid narrative. It was a creative concept that even give me a couple shivers during the big reveal. I wish Max and Milla's personalities were explored more - who they were before they became.. you know, just play the game, it doesn't take too long. Could use some QoL improvements, e.g. backing out of a dialogue you accidentally double-clicked. Great work!

I loved this experience, it had a lot of surprises, exciting moments, and little flourishes. I would have enjoyed the audio more if it blended between the different rooms more. Regardless, the combat was excellent and the pacing perfect.

Fun game. I made a map and stuck pins in it to track the monsters. Couldn't quite figure out their behavior, but they seemed to lose interest in me when I jogged to the west before heading to the exit room. Great atmosphere and UI. I would have appreciated the ability to speed through some of the exposition on repeat playthroughs. Great work!

Great work! I really enjoyed the story and set-up. Superb art and player experience as well.