Great vibes, very "System Shock-y" which is what you where probably going for.
Scary Enemies, good mechanics, very intrigued to see what the full Game will be like and what kinds of things you will do with the sanity and the items. It's just a demo so not much to critique but the overall atmosphere and gameplay is very fun!
(it's easy to forget that the flashlight is on, when the power turned back on)
Perfect FPS Controls, and i mean Half-Life like perfect. The mounting felt a bit floaty but it's a demo, so things will get worked on anyway.
It just feels great to play, what's there is already very solid. It immediately reminded me a of a certain old game by the name of "Manhunt", could it be that it was a source of inspiration?
The way the Enemies fall or can get back up is pretty neat aswell.
Also very coherent and beautiful art-style, very talented devs and the full release will certainly be great.
Again great Atmosphere, Sound Design and pacing. It is more of an interactive film and very text-heavy, but i never got bored (Poe's texts are great) because the accompanying shots are beautiful.
Your Games have a great flair and are simply a joy to play. Especially the Cutscenes seem to be your forté (are you also a filmmaker?).
Do a full-length one and put it on Steam. Style, Music, Menus, everything is top.
Great work emulating the Style and Gameplay, the way the scenes/interactions cut to a close-up is awesome. And the Art-Style is great aswell, very coherent and eerie.
The Story was a bit too clear, but i liked the way it was done. The interjections by his conciousness was great. Good Job and very fun Game.
The only thing that i didn't like was the Beginning, running all the way to the house, only to run back to get a crowbar, and then to the house again is probably the most annoying thing. Just to open the front door, and not use it anywhere else.
It was probably done to build atmosphere, and to read the note, but that's already on the radio at the start and could've been done in another way, because it doesn't add too much. The walk is already long and enough the first time. Having the crowbar in a shed nearby and putting the bunny jumpscare there would've sufficed.
Beautiful design of the Museum and Benches, and good overview of the anti-social structure, very coherent art-style. They even completely took away benches at some stops where i live, so no one can rest. NO social spending, that's terrrible, we do have enough to bail out banks and billionaires with our taxes though.
I don't really like the bars, i know it's for the aesthetic, but a third option to get rid of them would be cool.
Interesting, you could get into a myriad of problems later on though. I don't know your particular setup, but you could adjust the height and with of the collider, when you need him to go through tiny gaps.
I'm trying to play it again now, but it's better to adjust now, and do it properly, because it will give you headaches later on, when you work on bigger games. Maybe this can help you?
Try if it works for your Project.
It adjust your characters capsule collider by half or whatever you put into the inspector, that should give you an idea, how you could make it work to get through tiny spaces.
using UnityEngine;
public class CharacterColliderControl : MonoBehaviour
{
[SerializeField] private CapsuleCollider characterCollider;
[SerializeField] private float normalHeight = 2f;
[SerializeField] private float crouchHeight = 1f;
[SerializeField] private Vector3 normalCenter;
[SerializeField] private Vector3 crouchCenter;
private bool isCrouching = false;
void Start()
{
if (characterCollider == null)
{
characterCollider = GetComponent<capsulecollider>();
}
if (normalCenter == Vector3.zero) normalCenter = characterCollider.center;
if (crouchCenter == Vector3.zero) crouchCenter = normalCenter / 2;
}
void Update()
{
if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.C))
{
isCrouching = !isCrouching;
if (isCrouching)
{
characterCollider.height = crouchHeight;
characterCollider.center = crouchCenter;
}
else
{
characterCollider.height = normalHeight;
characterCollider.center = normalCenter;
}
}
}
}
That's sadly too old/weak for Games, even if they have a pixelated look. Mid-range mobile Phones are more powerful than that.
But there are good CPUs with integrated graphics coming like the 8700G or save a bit for a refurbished Steam Deck directly from Steam, those are sometimes "cheap" still 250$ or something though :-/
Jeaaaaaah... congrats i love horror games, but this is the first one that freaked me out too much that i couldn't play further, because of my fear of tight spaces. That first jumpscare completely took me out. I will try again sometime but, no thank you for now :-I
Also great ideas for the tool-mechanics.
I didn't get the "repay" thing but this was pretty much perfect.
This is probably the best iteration of those "Game taking over" or "Game within a Game" Concepts i've seen. The events taking over, the Scares are awesome. The Footsteps being in sync with the Game and the overall sound design.
Awesome work!
I think the goal was to emulate a certain Style and type of Game, and it was done perfectly.
Cool little Story, also the Border Patrol confused me a little bit, where everyone was suddenly gone.
For the Story: You've had to have a lot of suspension of disbelief, because it would certainly be very suspicious if a "train attendant" took your bag while you sleep and put something in it, and no one says anything. And the Bag in the toilet is a bit obvious, but still okay, to keep it moving along.
Just as food for thought: maybe let him check your bag, and after that there's the drugs in it? As a kid you'd be trusting if someone from "train security" or something came along and asked you if you travelled alone. He could say, that he'd need to check your bag before we approach the border. And as a thanks comes again later and gives you a Soda from the "staff kitchen", since he heard that you wanted one.
Some Errors:
- Bug: Game got locked up after the waitress brought my food, laptop was still there and food on top of it, and i couldn't interact with anything anymore, and had to restart.
- The time should always be PM, because you are using the train from midday onwards, and the last one (if it is at night) should be something like 11:50 PM.
- Error: The Picture in my messages after the food came is of japanese pancakes, but i got a croissant.
- Error: Any time you use the toilet he says he needs to go back to the seat, before the food arrives. And he doesn't wash his hands ewwwwwww.
- Those aren't ticket numbers but the Flight Number, it should be just one. I don't think every family member would use a different Airplane.
- If you are using a Scroll View in Unity for the SMS-Messages UI. Look for the "Scroll Rect" Component on it and set it's "Movement Type" to "elastic". That way it feels more like a real phone, and the scrolling is not so static.
Great Job, it was very fun to play, and hope there are lots more!
Oh damn, i think it's best to go into it, without knowing anything. You have to have a bit of fondness with liminal spaces, but this was a great experience, i even played until i got all the Secrets, i think (which made it feel like an old school PS1 experience, sadly newer Games don't use secret rooms etc. not as often anymore).
Great artstyle, plenty of different areas and things to explore, a bit of meta storytelling, a bit of eeriness/loneliness. I appreciated it a lot, beautiful work!
Thanks for sharing this Story :-)
If you liked Games like "Beginner's Guide", you have to play this.
Great, the scares should start a bit later, i think the first one with the chair is too extreme, when you are just coming into the Game.
I think i enjoyed the ones in the third night the most, where you only see glimpses of something moving, those were great! I also liked the progression, that the Player tries to have less lights active at a time.
And scale down the size of the Game a bit, maybe it's the Textures but it doesn't have to be 1 GB for such a small Level. Good Job!
Good voice acting, of course gives "Lost in Vivo" vibes giving the same concept, but you don't know where it goes.
The vibes are good, scary atmosphere but it ends at the very first Monster encounter so i hope it gets more interesting as it goes on, what's up with the cult etc.
The Voice things seems gimmicky, because i don't think a Player talks much, except when you are a Streamer, who's just forced to be more quiet then. And the alerting could be done with Footsteps/grounds or the shout button, that alerts the Enemy. I haven't seen much about the cosmic aspect, but maybe the Enemy is otherworldly or something?
Albeit being like a Pilot Episode, it is very loose, and you don't get much from the Story, only that it's about missing people in the woods, and things are about to go down. I'd like you to lean into the Twin Pikes vibe, so it can be a bit different than all the "Fears to Fathom"-esque creepy Slice of Life Experiences, where you walk around, go to a store (we didn't buy anything?), drive around a bit etc. lots of them follow the same routine, vhs-optic, a few of them are here on Itch.io.
But i think your differentiating factor should be that vibe, i love the shots of the Car from the woods when getting to the Gas Station, or how the Clerk is surrounded by darkness and the poem gets read. Lean into this more, get rid of the VHS-static, and tell more about the Story through Gameplay, it's always cliché in horror, that you immediately see a show/radio/missing people posters, where the oncoming threat is jammed into your face. Or how NPCs tell you about the creepy things that are happening (and are definitely going to happen to YOU!). More subtle Storytelling would be great instead of text, i have to admit the one on the road got me good, because i wasn't expecting it at all. But add a few things where you really have to look, e.g. the scaffolding where you drive through, could have the silhouette of a person standing there, watching you, that you see again but only if you look for it. Especially the Radio is one of those things, good voice acting but it's too on the nose.
And again the guy in the Suit reminding me of Twin Peaks, that can be used for any direction (or just a fat red herring) of the Story. More of a surreal Story would work great. Lean into that, the groundwork is already pretty cool. Good Job, keep going!
//and please for people like me, add a disable option for the VHS-Setting if it's going to be in further Episodes :-*
Great Job, intriguing Storytelling. And the Puzzles were all solvable with a bit of thinking, except the knocking Puzzle. That was a bit annoying, i got lost there, could you explain their solutions, because i've had to watch a YouTube Video to get through. I understood the 0 and 1 with the long and short knocks, but couldn't figure it out for the other 3.
Cool little Story with the limited amount of Assets.
Some little things:
- Significantly reduce size by reducing Texture size.
- Make Text timed, instead of Triggers.
- Maybe block Player from going into the Darkness, to avoid Players getting lost, or make an ending that fulfills the warning and after a certain amount of time, he falls victim to the darkness.
also: pixabay and freesound are great resources for freely usable music/sounds :)
Finally a quiet Thanksgiving :)
The Game could benefit from a more maze like Level, or having two floors instead of going back and forth between these sections.
If the "Items" on the grocery list are standins for the familymembers, i'd suggest adding some animations, or an obstacle that you have to get through to the Item, since the Neighbours heard screams. You'd think they would run away, fight, or do something to avoid you and not just stay in one place, so it makes sense in the Story.
For Example:
- You want to grab the can but it falls and rolls away.
- An item is at a higher place, and you have to push it and it splats on the floor. Or you have to get over something to get to it, or it "hides" somewhere etc.
- Christopher says the Turkey is too much and cuts half of it off or something. So that you can connect his insanity to something happening in the real-world.
That would make the metaphor work better. The devicename item breaking the 4th Wall is interesting, but nothing is done with it, the Story should include it somehow, if you are addressing the Player directly make it stick out and question his thanksgiving maybe (?) - so it at least has something to do with the Story. Otherwise it could've been left out, it breaks the immersion, but doesn't add something to the Story.
Good to play through, but i "got" the Story pretty quickly and could foretell the ending but it was nice nonetheless.
Great work, and happy thanksgiving to you guys.
Vidas you're a game making machine, cool to see different ideas come to life :D
Quite the evolution, Part 3 and we have fully embraced the Silent Hill aesthetic.
No Storytelling through notes is better, i'm more confused about the facility and would have relied more on your previous "tunnel" aesthetic to make it more of your own. But it's hard not to fall into a "Backrooms" type Game or something like that. Some parts were a bit tedious, fetching Keys and going all the way around because of arbitrarily blocked Paths.
Maybe going into the direction that the Player(s) just gets lost in these Tunnels with things lurking in the dark would've been enough instead of going full on nightmare mode. Maybe focusing on the dread about exploring a new place and losing your way, or what the facility is researching there (albeit hinted at).
But other than that it's really enjoyable, i like how you can see that your abilities are evolving and new stuff gets added to the Gameplay like the Sigils or the Bossfight and Storytelling. Great Work!
Great advancement, the first one was a tad more atmospheric, but that probably stems from the added Story, and more concise beats. I do hate "shaking head evil creatures", because it gets me out of the Game, just having glimpses of them would be better and would add to your atmosphere.
The shadow disappearing or relying more on soundeffects works great for your environment. Good Job again!
I'm playing through all of them right now, i enjoyed 1 already and would've loved if the end didn't even have a Jumpscare but just ended suddenly in a cliffhanger, just dark and end :D
Also question about the transition effect in the Tunnels, is it just a Triplanar Texture? Or how did you achieve this?
On to #2.
Even though it's a years old project, the graphics/style still holds up.
Things that need work are the pacing and the way some Events are executed, they often happen to abruptly and thus go into more of a funny way instead of being scary. The neck twist and falling down for example.
It is also not really obvious what's important to look at and what's not, and why some things are interactable and others are not (that would also save some work). But telling the Story through Flashbacks and the Mannequins is not new, but it does work, if it's going to be more fleshed out and all the W's are going to be answered.
The atmosphere is good but the cuts to the cozy rooms are fast aswell, it goes from mildly scary, to not scary at all, neckcrack next scene and so on.
So that's a point that would need a lot of work, if you go ahead and try to make it a full release. In terms of Puzzles it's alright, full version could be more complex, more ways for the Players to make errors, instead of changing one thing (color-coded puzzles, different objects to attach etc.) or just click the use button.
Good Luck for the future!
Sorry, i was being sarcastic. I've played it again to give more thorough thoughts.
The effects are not necessary and do not make sense, why is the Player recording anyway, there is no reason to have it. There are no explanations given to anything, you start at a School(?) bump into the guy and are suddenly at home. What happened there, what's the recording for?
The effect is simply not needed, and it's solely added to follow a certain trend may it be PSX graphics, or bodycam style or whatever, just have the Gamecamera be normal, it doesn't add anything to the Gameplay. Focus more on the overall style, which seems to be just fine anyway.
The Player runs way too fast, and the level/scenechanges happen way too suddenly. It is very disorienting combined with the speed of the Player and you really do not understand what is going on. There is no doorcollider on the dark room, where the guy gets put later.
You Start at School -> Get Home -> Do Homework -> Sleep -> Door Rattling -> Jumpscare guy.
Why is that, why is he stalking you, where did he come from, you bumped into him earlier?
There is no build-up to the Story, i figure this would be akin to or inspired by Fears to Fathom: Home Alone, but if you play it again, you can see how the Story unfolds. Things do not just happen instantly everytime.
The Intro gives you Keypoints to the Story, the Messages tell you why he's home alone and what he's doing, and guide through the Events. You can see the guy moving from the Window upstairs, peeking through the door etc. Play it again and write down what happens, to get a feeling of the Storybeats. Copying is valid when trying to learn, and just change it up a little bit.
Your Story starts at School so adjust it to the Setting.
I'd suggest writing out a few points of what should happen, and what could be somewhat scary or unsettling to the Player. Because in this form it's too barebones.
The cheapest way to add Story, would be Narration or Notes, to be good it should make sense. But just for the sake of adding something to it as a really short Story try this. It's only an example from the top of my head, and it's very cliché, but should give a possible idea, because there are so many of these types of Games:
I'd say have the Player at the start walk along the school halls longer, and not bump into the guy immediately. Maybe Subtitle how he's tired of school and he's on his way home, let the Player know how he's being watched by someone, e.g. Evil guy looks through classroomwindow and keeps his eyes on Player, and subtitle it that he thinks the guy is creepy and always looks at him weird.
At home let the Player move around a bit, before enabling the Homework quest, walks around, eats something. The usual stuff you know from these types of Games. -> Goes to do Homework, finds a weird note in his Book/Notes.
Weird noises, maybe doorbell -> check it, no ones there, go back to sleep. Hear Window cracking, Door Rattle something etc. go to look and now the guy can be there and do a Jumpscare. This way it would have more substance, instead of random things just happening.
You did put in work into the Menu though, but which should just stay at the first door and not need explanation how to use. Maybe put "Enter" above the doorhandles.