Through Oneself by Omiya Games

[raw]
made by Omiya Games for LD35 (JAM)
A lone woman finds herself stuck in-between two dimensions, and only you can help! Guide this person to salvation using environmental cues and your own smarts. Through Oneself is a unique puzzle-platformer where your character itself reveals a new hidden world. Use the visual cues in both the real and hidden to navigate through this treacherous world!

Controls:
* WASD to move
* Space to jump
* Left-Ctrl to crouch and crawl
* Move the mouse to look around
* Use mouse scroll-wheel to zoom in and out
* Esc to pause

Note: a 3-button mouse (mouses with scroll wheels) vastly improves the game, but is not necessary to play.

Confused? Here's a big hint! Your character can only interact with what's visible inside of her silhouette. So use that scroll wheel to zoom in and take a closer look at what the invisible world looks like!

Created in:
* Engine: Unity
* Graphics: a combination of Unity Standard Assets, Unity-chan (Candy Rock version) and Autodesk's free Character Generator.
* Music: GarageBand, something I made a few days ago
* Sound Effects: Unity Standard Assets and BFXR
* Font: Fira-Sans by Mozilla

The team:
* Taro Omiya (yup, only me!)

This game is funded through Patreon. Many thanks to the following:
* Adam R. Vierra
* Joshua Jennings
* XanderHD
* Tommy Pedersen
* Jacob Clark

Made in Tech Valley Game Space!

Edit Logs
#1: Attempted to upload a WebGL build. Doesn't play music on Chrome, and Firefox indicates security errors.
#2: Took down the WebGL build. Need to look into more further, but when I'm not sleep-deprived.
#3: Added hint for people who were confused with the game. I admit, I'm generally hands-off in explaining core concepts of the game.
#4: Re-organizing description a bit, adding WebGL build created by Unity Cloud, and more hosting websites.
#5: Actual changes made to the executables (but nothing gameplay related). Enabling the Quit button to exit from the game. These builds will be marked with a v1.0.1 version number.

Ratings

Coolness 81% 2
Overall(Jam) 3.45 341
Fun(Jam) 3.19 490
Humor(Jam) 2.28 624
Innovation(Jam) 4.28 18
Mood(Jam) 3.08 565
Theme(Jam) 2.97 807

Feedback

Evergreen Games
19. Apr 2016 路 02:36 UTC
Really cool idea!! It could have used more time to fully develop but you did remarkably well. The cutout effect is really well done and it's fun to use the camera to "reveal" more of the level.
tppr2046
19. Apr 2016 路 02:39 UTC
Great concept!! Love the idea, please continue to make it as a product. I want to buy it!!
馃帳 Omiya Games
19. Apr 2016 路 03:10 UTC
@Evergreen Games: Ahaha! Yeah, I was very short on time. If you want the full story, there was a hackathon going on at the same location, and the same time I usually organize the Ludum Dare real-world meeting. So I was pulled right and left with Unity VR questions, and really difficult ones to boot. Anyway, it's amazing I got anything done, really.
AnaGF
19. Apr 2016 路 07:51 UTC
Awesome game. Please develop it further!
MeritLeave
19. Apr 2016 路 07:56 UTC
Wow, this is really novel! I dig the idea of being stuck on a different plane of existence like this. It's kind of mind-bending to play, and you could do a lot of interesting puzzles with lots of moving parts! I really hope this gets expanded into something larger in scope. Great work!
Baknik
19. Apr 2016 路 08:06 UTC
Interesting idea! It is a bit difficult to see where you're going. Also, the acceleration on the camera movement makes the controls a bit frustrating to use.
serp
19. Apr 2016 路 08:10 UTC
That's a pretty awesome concept.
APantaloni
19. Apr 2016 路 08:22 UTC
Very interesting concept! Nice visual effect for the main character. Cool game.
wg_phancock
19. Apr 2016 路 08:30 UTC
Wow, what a cool idea! The cutout effect was well done. I could see a very cool full game come out of this idea, no problem.

There were a couple areas where the two "worlds" were the exactly the same and it was hard to judge jumping distances since you couldn't see the character at all. I think some play testing to find those areas and adding more variation of textures could fix that.
02fc.exe
19. Apr 2016 路 09:20 UTC
This game is breaking my brain
ObsessiveNotion
19. Apr 2016 路 10:09 UTC
Very interesting concept! I have no idea how you achieved that effect but it is what made this game what it is!
codeartisticninja
19. Apr 2016 路 17:47 UTC
Really cool concept! It took me a while to fully figure out what was going on and didn't really know where I was supposed to go, but a lot of potential to be had.. :)
omlette.du.fromage
19. Apr 2016 路 19:01 UTC
Really nice concept, using the camera as mechanics. Also, nice music. Feels very Anime-Urban.

What I felt was immersion-breaking, though, was that the crowds and the sterile test chamber-like (I'm thinking Portal) environment with all the huge blocks and buttons didn't quite mix, so at the end it seemed like it wasn't important that the protagonist was a human girl or that the crowds were crowds, I would just play the game mechanically.

Still, the puzzles were interesting and fun. Kind of felt like a mix between the block pushing in a Zelda game and the different kind of thinking that Portal requires.
sndr
19. Apr 2016 路 19:30 UTC
Interesting idea! It's quite impressive that you were able to do all that in those 72 hours, with all those other things going on around you.
Sometimes it was kinda hard to see where I was going, though, hehe.
pirate_shell
19. Apr 2016 路 21:22 UTC
This is a brilliant little showcase for a very strong concept. I love the idea of it! I believe that with enough time and development this can be a triple A game some day. Fantastic job!
Polyknight_+_dragonGlitch
19. Apr 2016 路 23:40 UTC
Tons of good things here - cool idea to layer the shaders like that, to unveil things you haven't seen before. The menu and levels of content and tutorial all speak of a person who has done a few game jams before.

I highly recommend continuing on this idea, and finding a few 3d artists along the way to expand on what you have. Could be really cool with a vaporwave color pallete. Thanks for doing the stream on twitch. Cheers!
EdoMiyamoto
19. Apr 2016 路 23:41 UTC
Very innovative !
Evergreen Games
20. Apr 2016 路 02:15 UTC
@Omita Games yeah I've seen your games and stream in the past and I saw the post about the vr thing. Hope you are streaming this year!
subpixel
20. Apr 2016 路 02:28 UTC
Really nice work, it started becoming second nature looking around the level through the keyhole for new features. There were a few places where it wasn't super clear to me what the form was on the other side, but experimentation always yielded the answer.

It would be great to try this out with really disparate, detailed scenes on both sides of the divide. Would it still read, or do you think you need these simple planes and clear colors to disambiguate the view?
mikeware
20. Apr 2016 路 07:28 UTC
Amazing graphical effects. Understanding the environment of what was invisible at times was a little challenging, especially with the people wondering around.

Curious about where to see this going in the future.
NightShadow0
21. Apr 2016 路 12:47 UTC
Whoa, this is super trippy. Really cool mechanic. Finding switches and crawlspaces was especially interesting; with the platforming i usually found it easier to just feel my way through it. Interested to see how you could expand it further. Great work!
Pusty
21. Apr 2016 路 21:42 UTC
This is amazing! 5/5
Hempuli
21. Apr 2016 路 22:58 UTC
Amazing concept! The platforming physics were a bit awkward but that didn't matter most of the time. Some really sweet ideas here and I could definitely see this turned into a "full" game! Good work.
calzep
22. Apr 2016 路 04:04 UTC
really neat idea, never seen or could imagine something like this before. Definitely innovative
bytegrove
22. Apr 2016 路 19:06 UTC
Really cool idea! Unfortunately I think it crashed when I crouched.
馃帳 Omiya Games
22. Apr 2016 路 19:33 UTC
@bytegrove Is that the webGL having the problem? If so, does the PC/Mac/Linux versions work any better?
Gamepopper
22. Apr 2016 路 20:20 UTC
Woah this concept is trippy. Extremely clever how you achieved that effect. Annoyingly my mouse pointer wouldn't lock to the screen so controlling the camera felt awkward, but I really enjoyed playing the first few levels!
fullmontis
23. Apr 2016 路 11:20 UTC
Wow, this is such an original concept! I really like this game. A little confusing, but very interesting!
SpringCabal
24. Apr 2016 路 04:34 UTC
A really great idea and implementation as well.
I wish my character had a slightly different animation when she was pushing crates, as there's no real indication otherwise.

I think the choice of music and having crowds of people walking around was a good way to set the tone of the game, giving a hint to the player that it's a completely safe puzzle/explore game.
fin_nolimit
25. Apr 2016 路 01:29 UTC
That was a cool idea!!! It would be nice to see this one as a full game! Nice work!!!
seitnerk
25. Apr 2016 路 08:45 UTC
Wow great concept!! :)
Nomys_Tempar
25. Apr 2016 路 09:23 UTC
Nice polished game, really fun to play !
ijona
25. Apr 2016 路 19:20 UTC
Wow! The mechanics is definitely interesting. It seems to me that mood could less joyful and more mysterious in such a game. But maybe it would be a different game then:)
axoona
25. Apr 2016 路 20:25 UTC
very cool concept and the puzzles are really fun. keep it up!
LukeZaz
26. Apr 2016 路 03:47 UTC
Bit difficult to see the character, but the mechanic was really interesting and fun to work with, and the levels were all on an even enough difficulty to make it fun without being too easy. Oh, and the music was excellent!
knason
26. Apr 2016 路 18:16 UTC
Great concept! very out of the ordinary. I really liked the audio it really added to the mood. I hope you keep on working on this. Great job!
Fabraz
26. Apr 2016 路 19:03 UTC
Very interesting concept! Hard to wrap your mind around. The music feels very Naruto-esque, shame it doesn't translate to the visuals. That being said, a fantastic concept with pretty good polish in terms of implementation! (Even got a tutorial!) Awesome stuff guys!
mike.cullingham
27. Apr 2016 路 01:52 UTC
Neat idea. Great accomplishment getting this innovative tech done for the Jam.
BitDare
27. Apr 2016 路 03:39 UTC
This game is so beautiful. The gameplay is innovative and fun. And the Mood felt amazing.
zenmumbler
27. Apr 2016 路 16:15 UTC
Cool idea. The various layers and how they inverted visibility was a bit disorienting but I got through in the end. Nice.
SHLFStudios
28. Apr 2016 路 16:58 UTC
very nifty idea, but also really confusing. guess i would like to see more visual contrast between the two dimensions
medidog
28. Apr 2016 路 21:10 UTC
It is definitely an innovative idea, but it was not fun with the current game mechanics.
WERT Studio
29. Apr 2016 路 12:44 UTC
Cool idea but i dont like the game it just feels strange
BSODDevTeam
29. Apr 2016 路 18:55 UTC
Amazing concept! I think you can get this somewhere and it'll be the best to see on market.
Aaranos
29. Apr 2016 路 22:12 UTC
I don't feel like the audio added to it. Interesting mechanic with the way you have to look around.
zondarg
30. Apr 2016 路 00:56 UTC
Very interesting idea, the cutout effect is very special. For some reason I got stuck in midair twice, but entertaining nevertheless :D
Frederika and Patrick
30. Apr 2016 路 18:32 UTC
This is a really cool idea and was very well executed.
Xanjos
30. Apr 2016 路 19:52 UTC
Pretty interesting puzzle platformer. I really liked the silhouette/cut-out effects.
tmpxyz
06. May 2016 路 06:48 UTC
Cool idea!

I would suggest to add some helpers to help player locate himself, and the lighting is a little dark.
Brightstar
07. May 2016 路 03:03 UTC
Nice. -_^
TheCain
08. May 2016 路 01:44 UTC
Very polished, with a very unique concept.
I didn't see the theme, but that's not a big deal.
You should have added a fullscreen for the emebed game though.
Jupiter_Hadley
08. May 2016 路 15:25 UTC
Really clever concept! I included it in my video compilation series of Ludum Dare games, if you鈥檇 like to check them out :) https://youtu.be/IgqbHpL7wxo
馃帳 Omiya Games
08. May 2016 路 20:01 UTC
@TheCain: I didn't add fullscreen due to the code not accommodating for changing screen sizes. Perhaps at some point, I'll add the code in, but it would have to be a post-compo entry.
PowerSpark
08. May 2016 路 21:53 UTC
Awesome game concept, great idea with the camera layering effects. I hope you take this game further!
geekguy100
09. May 2016 路 01:10 UTC
Very interesting and unique. Cool game! I'm glad you added in a tutorial!
01010111
09. May 2016 路 20:35 UTC
HOLY CRAP! This is really really amazing Taro! Platforming segments felt strangely good (with the combination of 3D and semi-visible character, I was really worried about it :P) and the concept is super interesting! Might be one of my favorite games from you! Good work!!
馃帳 Omiya Games
10. May 2016 路 00:02 UTC
@01010111 Many thanks!
馃帳 Omiya Games
10. May 2016 路 00:03 UTC
@01010111 Oh, yeah, I made the character extra-floaty, figuring the platforming was going to be hard for most people. Glad you liked it!