Aorta, a horror game inspired by The Backrooms and Slender:The Eight Pages.

The Good:

Finishing

I was really close to quitting this jam. After I had accidentally deleted a big chunk of progress, I wanted to just throw in the towel and sleep. Luckily my girlfriend was SUPER supportive throughout the jam process and was the reason I finally finished my first Ludum Dare after years of entering but never submitting a complete game. She helped me manage my time, brainstorm ideas, and volunteered her heartbeat for sound effects. Super proud of myself for finishing and incredibly grateful for the support.

Adapting

I always make shooters. I specifically restricted myself from being able to make one this time to learn something new. Aorta was originally going to be a game where you played as the monster hunting down human NPCs. This idea went entirely out the window as submission time got closer and closer. I was struggling with feelings of frustration because I really loved that idea going into the start of the jam. I'm glad I was able to pivot to an idea that enabled me to complete the jam in the end. While more simple in concept, I think my submission is pretty cool! I've never made a horror game before, lots to learn and a lot was learned, but I have now made one!

Atmosphere

I think the overall atmosphere of this game came together really well. I spent the first portion of this jam setting a tone through lighting, post-processing, and running with the heartbeat sound effect. It created a great grounded base for being scared. The creepy bits of story, teasing where you are or why, were a lot of fun to make too. It was also a learning experience surrounding additional motivation factors to drive players.

The Bad:

Too Much Time on Details

I have a brain that loves to focus on the details. Being able to use tunnel vision on tasks has its strengths, however, in my most recent game jams, it has hindered my progress substantially. One of the best examples I can pull from this project is my choice to focus on the heart theme.

I spent a lot of time trying to animate a pulsing heart via code. I was going to render it on the player's body, so if you looked down you'd see your heart beating out of your chest. I didn't want UI elements breaking up the atmosphere I spent so much time on. I thought the visual aspect of this would be super important in relaying information to the player. The game had a lot of mechanics around the condition of your heart after all. Turns out... not that important! In the end, I got the same information communication by increasing the heartbeat speed.

Trying to figure out these little details forced me to cut some more important mechanics to submit in time. Being able to hide from the evil entity like in the Outlast games, for example, would have given players more time to figure out the maze. I am searching for strategies that help me break away from this detail-oriented state and do more with less.

Lack of Horror

I made a horror game that doesn't offer all that much horror. I learned that atmosphere is just one piece of the puzzle. The scary factor of the immortal evil entity slowly approaching starts to buckle from the weight after a few attempts. Even I started to tune it out more and more as I was trying to find my way out of the maze. This project has me thinking about what is and isn't scary and what other concepts are out there with high impact. I would love to hear some ideas and feedback here!