itch.io

Thank you very much!

If it’s hard, stay away from it for a bit completely, otherwise you may push yourself to a total burnout.

I don’t know your situation, but what he wants isn’t something you must follow. If you don’t want a second job and have enough income for your needs, disregard and seriously consider moving out down the road. Zero surprise he doesn’t respect your mental health, if having 2 jobs seems like a good idea to him :)

It’s ok to quit trying at all for some time too, learning how to rest is a very important skill. Best of luck!

Hey, returning the courtesy :]

note1: don’t know if anyone except developer sees it, but this comment is heavy on spoilers.

note2: I play like a noob and review like a tester. Experienced genre players won’t deal with half the issues I run into. I am vaguely familiar with retro horror, I mostly play what came after original Resident Evil 4.

1. quit button doesn’t work when you start the game.
2. there is a pop-up window when I start the game, similar to the storytelling screens in your game (not a modern pop-up from cmd in Windows), that disappears before I can see what’s there.
3. would be cool if you could actually swim in water instead of dying. Being wet and cold can help expand missions and the survival element.
4. I got stuck for a while because I couldn’t figure out where the backpack is on the map. maybe different color that stands out or a pop up message when you come close would be good, because I found it only after looking through game screenshots.
5. No jump, but speed up is appreciated. If the jump was an option, I’d probably try to climb rocks, shed etc while I was searching for the backpack..
6. Regarding lamp message “I need to take my backpack first”, the lamp is small, if it was in real life, I’d pick it anyway. So the pop-up about backpack could be when you see the door lock “I have key in my backpack”. …. though i get it, backpack is code for inventory option. Still, when you use other items, light turns off. It is good for the genre (especially when chased), but generally doesn’t make sense because it is hand inventory, not backpack (should be treated like a gun, not items you carry). But I come from action survival, not classic horror.
7. please note controls in game info. I had to watch 0.2 playthrough to figure out I can access backpack with Q and find a key there.
8. there is a piece of locked gate’s stairs visible on the hill (right upper corner of the stairs 3d model)
9. i liked the card puzzle
10. i somehow fell through the stairs in the lighthouse, while passing by the unlocked gates next to table with cards. the code worked on 1933 for me and 1833 for the reviewer playing 02 version. and on table it is 1935. I’m bad with puzzles in general (honestly i rely on walkthroughs, I’ve got no patience lol), can you please explain the logic?
11. would be nice to start from the place of death, I kept jumping to the bridge from the left side next to little harden, because I am too used to jump being a part of the mechanics. Though later on it is a good thing, because I had to go to the pier anyway.
12. I can’t inspect the baby in the well, message about “there’s something inside the bucket” disappears too fast to read properly.
13. the note after gates with a chain has a mistake, unless it is intended (“when I cam” instead of came)
14. having missions as sticky or diary to look into could be neat. when I found the doll with the dagger, message “I have enough research, return to docks” disappeared fast again. I almost missed where I need to go, so nowhere to read the info to guide me.
15. same as your note on my game (Carry On), I wish I could skip to specific scene (choice of dagger) so I could play different ending without playing a full replay.
16. message like “key added to backpack” can be a different color, so the player would notice you didn’t just dig up stuff, but collected (because there is no inspect key visuals, so it isn’t clear).
17. 2nd playthrough, when I take the dagger, I cannot interact with the well baby and inspect it, because E pop up doesn’t happen (disappears like in issue with well above)….and I remembered to open inventory, so all good. but still, Inspect needs to be fixed (since I saw it is implemented already, just doesn’t stay as intended). After that, everything was pretty intuitive, “what to do” was clear to me (interaction with dolls and jewels). I suppose big part is the sound design here, I wonder how would it go for people with hearing impairment.
18. there’s a place next to well where I get stuck and cannot die right away until I roam around the puddle or whatever it is, to restart or jump to crawl out.
19. Mary’s diary 3/10 (-With you?…) speech goes into “..”. I suspect your mother tongue is Russian?
20. Quit button doesn’t work after I finished true ending and automatically returned to main menu.
21. No pause button. It can indicate to the player there’s no immediate enemy or action (which can be good or bad depending on what you want).

In summary, I played 1hour 45 min. 1st playthrough was 1h, second was 45min (because I skipped all notes and lamps initially and had to come back. I do like that all notes are mandatory to read).

Of course some notes are fully my preference as a casual player and doesn’t fit the classic elements of the genre.

Overall, that’s a very neat game you got there. It is very “classy”, the map is already big, a lot to do there, a lot more can be added (either island, husband return, or what happens in the real hospital).

The haunting method with daggers and true ending, savage. It is kinda funny you reviewed my game Bluebeard, because it is pretty much the same twist.

If you plan to significantly expand on the game, I’d record a walkthrough for my channel (my first playthrough was way too long to be entertaining, I tend to delve into testing aspect too much).

Overall, it is a quality game in the retro style and classic horror genre, similar to some successfully published indies on Steam.

P.S. I read your devlog, I also got laid off recently, left with the same train of thought. Good luck on your endeavor!

My condolences, you don’t really owe anyone to delve into it. Don’t worry about the jam and such, just concentrate on your mental health at this moment. When it comes to grief, it is totally okay to abandon things(sometimes for good) to properly deal with it.

Thank you! Haha, I guess it kinda is. I tried to minimize the scope to have a very basic prototype.

The textures are from Quixel, which is free to use for Unreal engine users (but now everything moved to Fab, so I’m not sure how it works, if you didn’t “purchase” the assets in time). They are quite impressive, but eat memory.

The camera is based on 3d person camera, so yeah, it can happen in places. It was easier for me to do it that way, than to tinker with 1POV camera to also include body and player shadow (plus I’m not sure how adding step sounds would work, if your player pawn has only hands, like in standard 1POV template). And I like the option to switch to 3POV without editing anything else.

Well, story wise!! Everything is actually implied in here :D Maybe once I make it visually the way I intended ideally, it would be more apparent. but also, there are 2 separate story ideas in one here, so a lot can be added bout the story. Come back in a half/ a year maybe haha

Hey, thank you for checking it out! There are 4 endings, technically there is only 1 bad ending. Thanks, I’ll try to add the skipping option.

I’m not sure what’s your aim is with this post.

Hey,

I have ongoing game jams (invisible on itch), if you wanna join. Make a game inspired by Nic Cage related trivia, memes or filmography

long-term jam (until 2026)

regular mini jam #1

Thank you, that’s quite an image! Gives me ideas 🤔

Thank you very much! Oh, I checked that game out, I see what you mean.

Hahah, my pleasure!

Thank you! I haven’t checked out many of the entries, but I guess majority went with the positive vibe of the picture, so mine stands out haha

yea, animal sounds are something to play with..

I lack knowledge to write what I want, but I had an overall idea of nerve-wracking badly played violin sounds. Construction in my town was a bonus, I recorded some sounds that after editing turned into atmospheric background noises. I have been participating in jams so far with silent games (because I had no time to include any sounds), it helped me to think about sound design in games. I also prefer realism, so ambient genre as a baseline felt better for a non-existent game. The theme and edited recordings helped me to form the final idea. I had something in mind before that I wanted to imitate (you can see my inspo in devlog), and the theme happened to be very close, if interpreted under a less positive angle (the picture is a delusion casted on the player by hypnosis or similar, not the reality).

Despite my original desire to go with DAW and write a melody, the edited recordings in Audacity felt complete, so I felt satisfied.

The feedback I got so far is very surprising, I didn’t expect my entry to be noticed and praised :)

Wow, thank you! The picture can be interpreted as wishful thinking, when you see someone the way you want or under the influence of hypnosis etc. I primarly creatively work in psychological horror/mystery genre, so my mind easily went there when I saw the theme.

Aww, thank you very much! I didn’t expect my entry to get this much positive feedback! ♥️

Thank you very much!

Yes, i did lol

There are multiple tracks with different things happening on the construction. The only recognisable sound is where you can hear seagulls. Other tracks were edited so it doesn’t sound anything like construction (slowed down, lower pitch).

Thank you for checking it out!

If it was a game, i guess I’d use the track without violins as a background. Violins would be reaction to some environment or “surprises” or hint on getting closer to enemies. So the motif would be an option for other cases: for example you go inside the boat, so the background is less heard and a different calm music steps to the front. Or the “safe room music”.

This sounds really cool and atmospheric! Would love to see a “making of” video or something, given the description “made entirely through strange effects and objects on my desk”.

Thanks for checking out :)

Bad ending implies the worst outcome from all the possible options. I wanted to divide the alternative routes clearly without breaking the word limit and let the player speculate what could it be. I treat jam entries as rough idea drafts, so I may have forgotten to give a better description there… oops haha

there are 3 endings btw.

ok thanks :)

Is the jam only for new games or work in progress can be an entry too?

I have a game prototype where I could add a boss fight, for example.

Discord server link:

https://discord.gg/adu758XykJ

if you want any clarification on rules, ask here and I’ll update the game page to make it clear.

Haha thanks! It was a very bumpy road to figure it out.

I spent a very long time being in the money making mindset that warped the way i dealt with both money and creative projects. The only real solution for me was to get an office job unrelated to all of that. I was avoiding it like a plague stubbornly(as many artists try, to be full-time artists), but it ended up lifting all that pressure. 

I haven't touched a lot of started projects just because they were passion projects and i didn't want to rush or to adjust it for money etc. and the whole full-time artist is not gonna fly, you'll hit up a wall and burn out just because the focus is too narrow in one field. Doing other creative things (programming, writing, music, origami or smth) helps to not get stuck or avoid art blocks etc.

I used Twine only a bit, but it seems quite easy to figure out for a story driven prototype(think Detroit Become Human) or just text-based game.

With my current approach i can always come back to these ideas. It is similar to writing down outline from a cool dream: just to form a rough idea. I lack too much technical knowledge to concentrate on my projects seriously, I end up breaking whole projects more often than advancing them. 

Plus simple small indie games for jams can be very different from "game for steam". A lot of small cool games either do not sell commercially or too short to be called a game. Many indie gamedevs are stuck trying to make next mmo rpg, because they cannot comprehend how a small game can look in general: Jams are very good for battling that.

Thank you, I'll look forward to your works as well :)

Welcome! There are always jams to try for, or you can always start your own. Those 2 seem up my alley/tick boxes in my interests, I hope to at least do text based Twine kinetic novel projects or something. My goal is to just make a lot of rapid prototypes for now, not to do good job on anything (i am recovering perfectionist), so my approach is wastly different from serious entries 😃

Hey, just heads up! You may be interested in Bluebeard jam that just started and a small discord that started it (narrative games, vns).  Neo-twiny jam is also interesting (500 words limit story game jam)

https://discord.com/invite/6cZBYqBP

Welcome! Sure, I sent you request. Glad you liked it :)

There is something claustrophobic about the camera angle, like you are crawling inside a low height tunnel. It kind of reminds me of the original Doom game and similar titles. Older mobile titles were also like that.

If you don't want camera to follow the kitten like it would be in a speed runner (so the kitten can still go far away like that), you can make the movement like original resident evil games and other horror survival titles of that era ("tank controls"). There are a lot of fans of retro style games that imitate PS2 titles in terms of graphics and this type of movement.

I also like the color theme, it could be something trippy or sci-fi, think movie Sunshine in a certain scene (it's a spoiler, I suggest you to watch movie first, it is very good).

Sound design can be crucial here: sound like 4 level Mario Bros (boss fight, underground level) could make this a scary game. Something silly could make it a cute wholesome game. Or you can do both, as Mario did (swimming level vs boss fight level). 

Speaking of Mario, check out fan-made Mario 3D version. If you recall original game, you can jump on different levels etc, in very drastic height differences (cloud level and swimming levels are opposite height of ground level). This is something your game currently doesn't have. 

also, imagining your game from different points of view can give you some new ideas. Tom & Jerry did it good, we never see the housekeeper because we view the story from animal's point of view. If the point of view changes to housekeeper, we'd see it as "top down" game (Baldur's Gate 3 for example).

And speaking of game itself, why exactly the balls fall in cat's direction? Is someone attacking him or are things falling down while he is hanging on a curtain or a tablecloth? Or is it him actually moving and balls are still?

Playing for an animal or something non-standard compared to human (both in height and way of walking) is interesting by itself: a lot can be done here, because you're experiencing world from different height, at least. There are funny titles like Wanted Racoon or Goat Simulator. Everybody loves cats, so your very simple idea can turn into something larger than you thought. And naughty cat dropping things is fun concept by itself, can be totally the main mechanics or an open world title or something, Wanted Racoon game is kind of similar idea: it is an open world with a racoon being naughty, check it out.

Also, cats vision is different from humans. If you imitate the colors and shapes the way they see it, could be more unique.

As you can tell, I have a ton of ideas and brainstorming comes relatively easy to me. Making those ideas into something playable is a whole different matter, it may not necessarily translate well when programmed into a prototype.

P.S. making your cat turn from time to time to smile and wink or something (for example when you dropped 5 items in a row) could be cute. Or tail wiggle etc. Tail also can be the way cat hits things. Cats are little gymnasts, there's some much you can add there.

Hey, the version for this jam is v1, it is fully shown in the video. The change is not very drastic, just expansion of enemy interaction. There were no bugs, versions 2 and 2.5 are updates for another jam.

I understand my original entry is too rudimentary to rate, no worries! Thanks for checking it out :)

That's actually super interesting visually, makes my brain come up with ideas.

The gameplay is easy to understand and kitten going into the distance is funny.

Reminds me of old labyrinth games.

that's a nice workable thing for 1 day of work. A background soundtrack would make it more "finished".

welcome! I am not sure how noticeable it to others... I have quite bad vision and use weak glasses for reading when I'm at home. It can also look different depending on screen size or window/full-screen option. I played of full screen.

I used to study webdev years ago, which led me to research accessibility/usability. I tend to wonder how impairments can affect gameplay experience, for example lack of sound while playing horror survival can be day and night for game difficulty. It can be worth reading on that stuff. With vision impairment it is a bit tricky, some people do not see certain colors, so it is not exactly about what colors get lost on background for normal user.

Rad eye-catching design, but I was confused how to play in a single player. 

Imo, there is a lot of potential here for a full title, I'd love it to hit Steam eventually.

Couple notes on UI:

• in the main menu, blue text is not well visible on the screen (click "preferences" for example. all the titles are barely readable). Same goes for menu options when background is big ladder up and no story text yet visible.
• option to pick text size would be nice. both on full screen and in browser, text is too small for me personally.
  

That was pretty good small game. I liked the enemy designs. Music and story delivered a great spooky atmosphere.
Very solid jam entry in general, and totally a blast as a first jam entry!

I prefer tumblr for diary style blogging, very easy to drop photo, links etc. Tumblr allows tags, so it is easy to sort out by topic, if you are generalist.

I use tumblr as my personal notes on processes related to gamedev, and itch.io devlog for summaries related to specific projects.

for example my tumblr posts related to game jam:

https://vitaliadev.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/game%20jam

And my itch.io devlog:

https://vitaliadev.itch.io/this-is-last-stand/devlog

You can also post to tumblr from your phone, so it is super convenient to write down quick ideas on the go etc.  And you can make posts privately or even lock down your blog (not your main blog though). 

I wouldn't say Unreal Engine is unreal to use, I think it is just very overwhelming to get into. Other options (Unity, Godot, etc) have more linear educational route, imo. There are many educational options for mid-level and professionals, but newbie hobbyist resources are all over the place and made by hobbyists.

UE is very powerful and seems to offer a lot of freebies for something that you'd have to buy with Unity etc. I've made a choice very long time ago mostly due to free access and realism quality. Doing 2d games is still better with something else entirely. Unreal Engine is built by those that use it to make AAA games, so they constantly update the engine for their own benefit, so it is a safe bet for me.

I would suggest to try and explore it more, look at State of Unreal presentation videos for inspiration... I think it offers both a good career route and fully fledged tool for solo indie. It just takes a lot of time to figure it out at initial stages and what exactly to concentrate on.

Thank you regardless, congrats on your first as well :) 

I checked your title, nice visuals. I'm going to vote on it later, after I play it fully.

haha, thanks a lot but nope! it is objectively too rudimentary to be called a game. I posted a video on the game page, it shows all that is in "v1" file, it is only for Windows. 

I guess it also depends on what engine/tool used. I used Unreal Engine. Doing the same project from the ground up would be technically more complex using something else. I used all the standard included tools and zero code (i use blueprints, Unreal's visual scripting).

That was my first jam too :)

https://itch.io/jam/gamedevtv-jam-2024/rate/2729952

1. I doubt there is a shorter game submission..

2. It's cosy if you're unreal engine dev...🤠

P.S. I am already prepared to be kicked out of the jam for lack of content, tbh.