Out Of My Depth by okuar

[raw]
made by okuar for Ludum Dare 57 (EXTRA)

Screenshot_1.png

Hey everyone!

So… this is a remaster of a game I saw about 10 years ago. Yeah, I know how weird that sounds — I just don’t remember the name of original game, and no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find it again. Maybe I just dreamed this concept — I don't know. But the idea really stuck with me. It felt super conceptual and oddly perfect for this jam’s theme, so I just had to remake it. I’d also love to see the original again and know who created it.

About this game

Essentially, this is a sort of haiku or poem in video game form—a short piece where nothing is superfluous. The gameplay lasts less than a minute.

Why I did it

I've been wanting to try out Godot for ages, but I never got around to it — until now. LD was the perfect opportunity to dive in without overthinking the idea. I just wanted to mess around with the engine. Also I set myself a challenge: making a game entirely on a tablet. I didn’t even have a keyboard or mouse, so I had to navigate using only a pen. Sure, it took a painful 4 hours of tapping on a tiny screen, but it was really fun.

Hope the game brings you as much fun as it did me! Have a great Ludum Dare!

Cheers!

Ratings

Given 53🗳️ 27🗨️

Feedback

Flying Butter Studio
07. Apr 2025 · 07:07 UTC
Very dark and very special, but an interesting interpretation of the theme. I don't know why, but I loved it. Your game has something to tell, and I like it. Simple, effective, impactful with just one control: perfect. I particularly liked the final point of the game. Congratulations on this very successful entry, even if it's a remaster.
Rinevard
07. Apr 2025 · 07:10 UTC
It reminds me the climbing stairs level in "the beginner's guide". It's not fun, but definitely impressive.
🎤 okuar
07. Apr 2025 · 08:51 UTC
@flying-butter-studio
ha-ha! yes, this is exactly the mood i've got - idk why but i loved it :)

thanks! i'm glad that you appreciate the idea too
🎤 okuar
07. Apr 2025 · 08:53 UTC
@rinevard oh, thanks for the reminder! I didnt play this game but i heard about it a lot.
YanVS
08. Apr 2025 · 04:58 UTC
it fells like modern art, realy passed the intentional vibe i think
🎤 okuar
08. Apr 2025 · 06:56 UTC
@yanvs thanks! I guess it counts as modern art — it came together quickly, and now it’s up to others to decide what it really mean :)
Nescre
08. Apr 2025 · 07:45 UTC
Good stuff man - absolutely nailed the atmosphere. My interpretation of it was a man desperately struggling over barbed wire fences. Splash screen at the end was a good bit of UI design too!
GrumpyLion
08. Apr 2025 · 09:53 UTC
I really liked the ambience!
Yatsu
08. Apr 2025 · 09:57 UTC
It's very dark and has a very immersive atmosphere. However, the square main character slightly spoils this impression, and it would be better to control it with a key, but overall I was left with positive emotions about the game.
YibiRabbit007
08. Apr 2025 · 14:16 UTC
Struggling to break away, maybe my game has something in common with yours!
LDJam user 261037
08. Apr 2025 · 16:48 UTC
I know it was probably part of the concept, but the movement felt way too slow for me. It might have been especially frustrating because I'm having to hold down a mouse button (as opposed to just keep my finger on a touch screen).

I don't think I've seen the game you based it off, though I did once play a slightly similar about moving a black square. Unfortunately, I have no idea where to find it because I only know it from an old ExtraCredits video on YouTube. The game was called Isolation, you advanced up across a white screen. There were other black squares, some alone, some in small groups. The end result was that even if you tried to interact, nothing would happen and the game would end once you got to the top of the screen and show you a statistic about Korean middle school students feeling isolated. It's probably not the one you recalled, though. You might try a Reddit. I recall they have threads on trying to find random games like that.
Disvent
08. Apr 2025 · 19:55 UTC
Very nice ambient – cool concept, but pressing just one button feels unpleasant and boring.
🎤 okuar
09. Apr 2025 · 06:37 UTC
@nescre thanks! :)
🎤 okuar
09. Apr 2025 · 06:38 UTC
@yatsu thanks! imagine if it would be a AAA game with a good graphics and real character. Could be a real art :)
🎤 okuar
09. Apr 2025 · 06:39 UTC
@yibirabbit007 i will check it out!
🎤 okuar
09. Apr 2025 · 06:43 UTC
@disvent @kobato-games thanks! the goal wasnt to make players comfortable but to make them feel the struggle and suffering. i've found that boredom is the most painful thing, at least for me :)
qiuqiuqiu
09. Apr 2025 · 12:01 UTC
Love the music&sound and blood particles, the ending is impressive. Last month I also made a game where you can only move right, and I found resonance. If you are interested, you can play on qiuqiu0529.itch.io/pig-and-cabbage
field-of-king
09. Apr 2025 · 14:35 UTC
Pretty cool and interesting. The sudden sound at the end was exciting. I liked it.
PapyKent
10. Apr 2025 · 19:12 UTC
You made me feel empathy for a pixel and I was not expecting that. The ratio emotions/button pressed felt puts to shame AAA games haha.
Adam Martin
11. Apr 2025 · 23:28 UTC
I'm not sure I understood what was going on, the moving was very slow and didn't appear to do much until you got to the first barbed wire. Perhaps having some story or narration telling a story so you know moving forward is what you should keep doing? I wasn't sure if I was missing some other form of control.
Mcgiants
12. Apr 2025 · 02:35 UTC
(Sees a game involving moving right the author played a while ago)
Could it be
Someone else who's played my favorite "move right" game that the creator took down from the web years ago!
*plays game*
Nope, this is a very different game. Still, I'm very impressed how much storytelling can be told with so few pixels and changing velocity!

(For the record, the game I remembered was called The Shaman. It came out a bit after the indie darling Passage, another "move right" game. In The Shaman, as you walk right, words appear discussing how you are on a journey to see the Shaman. Words about missing your beloved, and what the villagers had to say about the Shaman, and the powers the Shaman is supposed to have, what you sacrificed to make this journey, wondering if you will even find The Shaman. Then, when you finally reach a cloaked individual, the ambient music goes quiet and...
...
...
"The Witch Doctor" starts playing, sped up and speeding up faster, repeating Ooh Eee Ooh Ah Ah, as an image of the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie poster slowly fades in, as the quality of the song deteriorates.)
Lazyanttu
12. Apr 2025 · 17:06 UTC
This did not feel like a game, but an art piece (no probs with that)! I liked how the piece evoked the emotions of struggle and futility, it still could have been a bit shorter (would still make the point), as there was no interactivity.

If you want to make it a game, it should have selection somewhere :D (well, technically, if you have two buttons in the end "do you want to win" or "do you want to lose", that would still technically be a game, if you want to push your artistic limits while still making a "game")

Cool athmosphere!
YellowKamel
12. Apr 2025 · 17:45 UTC
I think I dont get this game.
sepjani
13. Apr 2025 · 03:19 UTC
it's not a game, but experience, like it
oller125
13. Apr 2025 · 21:27 UTC
The concept is pretty cool and it's cool that this was all done on a tablet.

One thing that might have been cool to add was that since it appears to be a top down view, to have the blood be a trail behind.
p-r
14. Apr 2025 · 19:41 UTC
"I think this is the last time I’ll ever write anything. My hands are trembling, not from fear, not anymore. It’s the weight of almost — of being this close to the edge of the world I haven’t seen in nearly four years.

I’ve tunneled for seventy-nine nights now. My fingers look more like cracked stone than flesh. The spoon I stole from the mess hall snapped three nights ago. Since then it’s been fists and nails. It hurts. Everything hurts.

But pain is different now — not punishment, but progress.

The guards don’t know. They think I broke after the solitary. And maybe I did. But broken men are the best at slipping through cracks.

I found the gap behind the sink. Just wide enough for my ribs if I exhale all the way. Past it: old stone, damp earth, and something that smells like freedom — or rot. Hard to tell the difference anymore.

The plan was never to escape in a blaze. It was the slow kind of escape. The quiet kind. I memorized patrol schedules. I watched where the floodlights don’t reach. I listened for when the dogs sleep and when the night guard pisses behind the utility shed.

I was going to make it.

Tonight I broke through the last layer. There was light — moonlight. God, I forgot how pale and gentle it is. I stuck my head out just to taste the air. It didn’t smell like rust and soap and sweat. It smelled like pine.

I smiled. For the first time in years. I smiled like a man seeing his child born."
geometer
16. Apr 2025 · 06:14 UTC
I like it. If I could change one thing, I would add the ability to press any key
🎤 okuar
17. Apr 2025 · 08:24 UTC
@field-of-king For some reason I still jumped every time I tested it, even though I knew that sound was coming - aha-ha!
🎤 okuar
17. Apr 2025 · 08:25 UTC
@papykent I'm glad. That was a whole point of this :)
🎤 okuar
17. Apr 2025 · 08:26 UTC
@adam-martin You didnt miss anything - that's all game :)
🎤 okuar
17. Apr 2025 · 08:28 UTC
@mcgiants. Interesting. I know another game with a similar description - its called Moose man.
🎤 okuar
17. Apr 2025 · 08:33 UTC
@grumpylion, @kobato-games, @disvent, @lazyanttu, @yellowkamel, @sepjani, @geometer, @oller125 - (nice idea btw) - thank you for the feedback and that played this sort of "game" :). I rly appreciate it!

@p-r - so cool! Did you write it?
🎤 okuar
18. Apr 2025 · 11:05 UTC
@yellowkamel No worries! That’s how it’s supposed to be :)
LDJam user 410172
21. Apr 2025 · 09:57 UTC
This is really cool! It's funny because as a dev I get obsessed with mechanics, complexity and whether there is enough in the game to justify it being a game.

Then as a player I realise I actually don't mind a more abstract, shorter game - something that stops you for a few minutes and gets you thinking.

Kudos for that, it's great to get something that both gets you thinking about your approach to game design and also gives you an interesting experience.
oeueGHa
21. Apr 2025 · 11:29 UTC
Like the atmosphere of suffering there, but i can't name it a game, it is just a video file, where u need to hold a button.
croze
25. Apr 2025 · 06:58 UTC
agreed with sir oeueGHa