This hit home a lil too hard

A really fun little game. The use of environmental storytelling was great, I really liked it :) Great job!

I really enjoyed playing your game, there's something about going in a world someone created without any expectation and just discovering as you go that is really interesting and entertaining. Even if the actual gameplay was "lacking" (since you basically just walk around, the mood of the game made it up for me. Good job and remember don't eat too many ramens ;P

This was a clever look at the theme, but not much more...

@darylstreak

I understand, it's the struggle of many. Don't get discouraged though! Practice, persistence, and discipline! Being aware of the problem is half the battle in this case. Thank you so much for playing!

@gamesplusjames

Thank you so much James! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Thank you for playing!

@tay

Firstly, thank you! And I agree, I loved blind exploration!
(Try this out, I love this game: https://gamejolt.com/games/bernband/34864)

I wanted to expand the game to have basic puzzles around the areas, but heh - my multiple restarts set me back a bit! (plus my 0.01% understanding of C#) so I agree.

And thanks for the advice, They may be $.99, but they sure are expensive on my morale, lol.

Thanks for playing!!

@lawzy93

Thank you! And I agree 100% - due to setbacks (discussed in the game, heh) I had to cut all the puzzle ideas I had. I wanted to expand each area with a small challenge so it wasn't so empty. Thanks for playing!

Too much ideas is the worst thing. Good use of theme. Like the abrupt end. :D

Half Life 3 confirmed? Haha all jokes aside, that was a really enjoyable experience. You are a great storyteller.

@meskaline

Agreed, sometimes it seems like trying to do a multiple things at a time, you end up doing none. I've been struggling to learn balance when comes to projects in gamedev - and this is a reflection of that struggle. Jams are great for flushing out this tendency I find.

And thank you, I'm glad you thought that it was a good use of the theme!

I appreciate you taking the time to play!

Cute concept. Sadly the motion gave me a headache and I couldn't finish it. :( I was really enjoying finding the notes.

@jake-cope

Hahahah. I can't comment, Valve is paying me in CS:GO skins to keep that a secret!

And thank you so much for saying that! It means a lot. I appreciate you taking your time to play the game. Cheers!

@relsqui

Ah! Sorry, I offer my deepest level apology for the headache, sincerely.

I'm using the default unity controller, and it isn't the smoothest ride, not your fault at all. I'll refrain from using it in future projects. Thanks for the mention of that.

I'm glad you liked the note finding! And thank you for playing the game, despite the headache :(!

so good, too bad about the audio :(
reminds me of the stanley parable a lot, no complaints, lack of gameplay isn't really a problem since it's a narrative. cool to see development happen as you go through the levels

@theloneplant

Thanks, I did put that in as a part joke, but part truth. I figured making my error a feature. Lol.

Thanks! Yeah, it was fun making the scenes "under construction"

Thanks for playing!

@relsqui

Ok, I edited the camera, I removed the headbob, made strafing smoother, and reduced the sound of the footsteps, so it should be smoother. Sorry for the inconvenience again.

@mark-kennedy Ooh neat -- wasn't expecting that as an update (this is my first LD so I don't really know what's in bound for bug fixes). I'll check it out again!

The view changes definitely helped. Still a little dizzy by the end but it's my dumb brain, not you. ;) And I got a good giggle out of it.

@relsqui

Fantastic to hear! I'm so glad it helped. I apologize again for the initial juddering, that was 100% my fault for using the horrible default Unity controller.

Hope the dizziness passes, and glad it made you giggle! Thanks for playing, and for giving it a second shot!!

Somewhat reminded me "The beginner guide". Is good, but with a little voiceover could be great!

some music or voiceover would give it the final touch.
The walking/running speed could be a little bit faster cause somtimes it felt really slow

This was a cool narrative with lots of inside jokes, I dug.

Best part of your work is the mood which get's created soley due to the level-design and flow.

I somehow feel like this title may even profit from the lack of music and definetively from the lack of puzzles.

Great Job! My biggest complaints would be the HUGE file size - I don't now what's bloating that so much, because just the graphics and the unity-scene files shouldn't reach > 40 MB.

Also just have a heart and hit the build-button for our fellow Linux-Users. If you're already using unity it just takes a couple of minutes of building and uploading.

Also, fiddling a bit with the lighting could really improve the visuals.

Absolutely fantastic ! The "Wait, I have a better idea" is exactly what I felt at some point in the game jam :) ! Cheers !

Really nice idea and story. Even a little bit creepy. I was expecting to meet a crazy game developer by the end who will eat my brains, ha-ha-ha!

This is so meta haha. So much truth in those clip-boards! Love it.

This was fun to explore and see how you went through development hell :). I love that you took your frustration about restarting and made it into a fun little experience for us to enjoy.

I love this. It hit the theme in a really unexpected and clever way (the more ideas you have, the worse it is) and the areas felt soothing and beautiful in a sad sort of way.

@kromeboy

Thanks! Huh, that's a neat idea. I didn't consider that. Maybe audio logs would be interesting.

Thank you for playing.

@the-bm

Good points. I agree with the walking, replaying it made me realize it was a bit slow. Music or voice audio logs would've helped a lot, agreed.

Thanks for playing, and for the feedback!

@elzach

Thanks Man!

Glad that you felt that the flow worked. And I agree (as weird as it is to have that lacks features), I felt the lack of music and game play reflected the theme of the game.

Thanks!

The file size is a mystery to me, I assume its the combination of me using Unity for the first time in a forever, using an asset called ProBuilder (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/modeling/probuilder-advanced-3558) without optimizing the game/models/draw distance/textures/light - so I agree.

I was surprised when I saw the file size myself - and will be wary of bloated files in the future jams, I'll have to look into proper optimization. I think the Global Illumination map was around 200mb, so I failed to keep that in a realistic range. Thanks for pointing that out.

I genuinely laughed at your comment at Linux. I totally forgot! I added a Linux and Mac build. Thanks for mentioning that.

And I'll look into that, do you have any pointers/articles you could send me? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for playing, and for the fantastic feedback!

@noa-calice

We all feel it. Thanks for playing!

@sovogirl

haha! I felt that it kind've took that turn as well, glad it kept you on your toes.

Thank you for playing!

@sholf

Thanks!

many thanks for playing as well.

@nammflow

Yeah, it was cathartic experince. My first jam I entered was Ludum Dare 31, and became very cold within the first two hours, and just quit. It was a very upsetting experience. I started to get the same cold feet durin this one, years later, but I pushed through - and god it was truly a release.

I'm so glad I got to finish this project.

and Thank you for playing!

@poorwill

Thanks! Yeah, the undertone seemed a bit tragic to me as well as I made it.

Thank you for playing.

Congrats on finishing a game about not finishing a game!
I feel that must've been pretty confrontential.

It was nice reading the notes and seeing how it progressed (or not), but there was not really a clear story apart from that. The visuals just seemed to present other abandoned ideas every time. I would've liked to seem them progress and then completely explode or change for example. I think I did see this with the jet-figher, where at the end you saw a more basic version.

I liked the representations though. I think those stacked blocks (sorta looking like buildings) were supposed to be pieces of code. It was a great touch to seem them cleanly stacked up at times or just scattered at others. But again, it was hard to see sort of a progress or story there.

But I guess that's also the point of the game. Game dev is chaotic and can charge of in all directions. And reading the comments here, that seemed to have hit pretty well;)

@jeroenwimmers

Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, it was a productive yet strange style of self-confrontation.

That's a good point, I wanted to get things more "developed" before I "abandoned" them.

Thanks. They we're meant to be graphic tiles or code blocks - both interpretations are correct to me.

Thank you for playing, and for the solid feedback!

NEVER AGAIN haha

Really enjoyed the sense of humour here. I usually don't like games that try to be funny. :) Also I'm into exploring surreal/absurd spaces in games in general, so this was cool.

Never again.

I really love the meta-message, quite good. Nice interpretation of the theme (maybe one of the best I've seen this Ludum Dare).

I love walking simulators and this one is perfect for a 48h Jam. Well done!

That was a fun, little meta-thought with the theme. End of the day, the game is just a "walking simulator", though, but i really liked it anyways!

I loved the simple art and storytelling. Was a nice interactive art piece.

@toboggan

I'm glad you enjoyed the humor! And me too - checkout https://gamejolt.com/games/bernband/34864if you want to see a surreal space in a game, it's worth it, trust me.

Thanks! And thank you for playing!

@belea

Why thank you very much! I appreciate all of your kind words!

Thanks for playing!

@ericm

Wow! Thanks!

Thank you for playing my game.

Oh, MAN! You already got me laughing BEFORE the game?! Kudos to you!

* I am pretty sure you're aiming for humor? I think you got it from the beginning then went serious later on.
* Funny thing at first: I did try the "48 hours?!" option. The game was so fast that I thought I skeedadled and tap danced along the way. Then I closed the game and went on properly.
* I mean, it's a visual presentation so I'm not really gonna critique you. Yeah, this is game development at it's finest. I can relate. Game development is chaotic, especially if you're working alone. Ideas is unstable, you just throw them out all the time. That's development hell for you. If you wanna get serious, it's a good idea to work as a team.
* Thought the cones in a circle were a demon circle. It's a funny thought. Also the lambda symbol. HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED?!
* The long narrow way made me think you set up a jump scare, glad you didn't cause I might berate you about it on a humor game unless warned. Though, this could be an advantage of a story where you can tell development hell in a really dark and psychological game. Espeically when you used the "I have a better idea" in mind.
* I do like the simplicity of the models, however. It's cute.

Never again. Then you made this entry...

Cool twist on the theme.

Love the idea, and the story was okay. I would have liked the game to be more crazy and chaotic. But overall a fine game.

@fiakaiera

Haha, thanks.

I aimed for a weird combination of the natural humor of failure and the added a serious psychological edge at the end. The humor at the start makes it more uncomfortable.

I actually added those "graphic settings" as a joke, but after reading what you wrote I tried it again. Good God. That was completely unintended, and I had no idea what caused that. Whoops. I smiled a lot when I found that, thanks for pointing that out. I guess - it's a feature!

Good point. It's harder to abandon a team.

That's a funny interpretation of the cones. They were meant to be like a "planned" feature, but demon circle and "planned" features are practically the same thing.

I made the path longer just to extended/visual the misery/long-slog of the "dev" character in this case. I hate horror games with jump-scares. And I agree, that would be an intresting take, development hell is a very twisted a psychological manifestation of something much deeper in most cases - anxiety and angst.

Thanks! I wanted something simplistic to represent a starter game-dev but also for the sake of actually finishing the game.

Haha! Yeah. One thing I didn't realize was that most people would assume that I was the character in the game, when I intended it to be another "dev character" if that makes sense, but I guess the connection is so obvious once people started making it. So technically it was supposed to be representative of the I have a better idea start over issue. (http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game - Number 11)

Yep! This entry does tap on the frustration I had entering Ludum Dare 31, and then failing to finish, that was forever ago, but it bothered me a lot. The "never again" burnt mindset can often cripple our attempts to stand back up, especially after a bad failure.

However the "never again" line comes from the "dev" character not me . . . entirely. I guess it's half and half. And I did make the never again blue ink as a difference between all the red ink we've seen before, suggesting (optimistically) that the dev (or me or you or the idea in general) will learn from the mistakes of starting over and said - never again! And will attempt to address their problems, and is saying never again to the bad habit of starting over or needlessly giving up.

Thank you for the most thorough feedback I've seen so far, I appreciate you writing that all out.

Thank you for playing the game. Cheers!

@kabalatrance

Thanks! And Thanks for playing! :)

@jk5000

Thanks! I agree, I wanted to have things clipping through the walls, rogue models, etc - but alas - time!

I appreciate you taking the time to play, thank you.

Reminds me of the beginner's guide. very relate-able and knocked the theme right on the head.

@tezza48

Thank you! And thanks for playing!

All to familiar. Really nice take on the theme! :)

Heh, that half life scene gave me a chuckle. Very meta stuff coming out of this jam, and this one would be the most meta of them all. Nice 3D models. Some ambient audio might be useful, but I guess having no BGM is a feature?

@hudston

Thanks! I appreciate you playing.

@randomphantom

Thanks, and I appreciate your compliments. And yes that lack of music, heh, is technically a feature.

I love how it just quits at the end. Nice walking sim :)

Movement in the game gave me some dizziness, i advice you to do more natural character controll. The game was fun, i mean, that dev notes are funny! I also saw a lot of work in there! Good job! :D

@valkyrie

Thank you! I'm glad you played it :)

@marius

Ah, I had some issues with the unity controllers, I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks, lol! I appreciate you saying that - thank you for playing!

Normally this is where I would provide a small essay of feedback on a game. Instead though, this hit a little close to home, and I can't help but just love it.

@dillon

Thanks man! That means a lot. Thank you for playing.