Amazing work! Interesting concept and super polished visuals, sound and overal presentation. I was so happy to be able to play with a control too!
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How does the game fit the theme?
The game fits the **“Trust No One”** theme by making trust a constant part of the journey. As you explore this strange world, you’ll encounter guidance, choices, and situations that may not always be what they seem. Sometimes, the safest choice is to question everything.
What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
We used some placeholder meshes from **Kenney** that we originally planned to replace with our own, but unfortunately ran out of time. We also used a few pre-made water and hologram shaders from the **Godot Shaders** website.
How many people worked on the game?3
Comments
Thank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed it!
It was definitely an intense week haha. We tried to keep the core mechanics relatively simple and reusable, so we could spend more time polishing the visuals, atmosphere, and overall experience.
We barely slept during the last few days, and we uploaded the final update just 30 seconds before the deadline — and that update actually included the ending!!! So yeah, it was really close haha.
We’d love to keep working on it after the jam, especially to improve some of the rough edges and expand on a few ideas. But for now, we’re just resting and recovering haha.
If you liked this one, feel free to check out some of my other games on my profile too!
Thanks for playing and for the kind words!
Thank you so much! That really means a lot to us!
I think the key was having a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve from the beginning, and finding general solutions and systems that we could reuse throughout the whole game. For example, the saw and the moving platforms inherit from the same base class, so we could reuse the same core behavior for different obstacles.
Less is more! There actually aren’t that many gameplay mechanics. There are a lot of systems working under the hood, but the mechanics themselves are mostly simple. For example, automatically detecting which input method the player is using and updating the navigation hints accordingly is relatively simple to implement, while designing, testing, and polishing an entirely new gameplay mechanic can take a lot of time.
So we focused more on how the game looks, feels, and what it communicates rather than making the gameplay overly complex.
Thanks for playing our game!
Thanks for the explanation ! That makes sense (I'm mostly a learning programmer so I see exactly what you mean), but you re-used your mechanics in a very clever way that doesn't make the game feel redundant.
That's part of what I still have to learn to scope my games and still make them entertaining. "Less is more", I've seen this advice a lot and I think it's key for small teams/solo dev. But on my end it still needs practice and mistakes before I can do something as clean as you did !
You talked about how the game feels - I think you also did this very well. Are you planning a commercial issue with a bit more content after the jam for this game ? (I think it could work, personally if I saw this game on Steam I'd wantlist it)
Thank you! And yeah, I think scope is probably one of the most important — and dangerous — parts of a game jam.
You have to plan your steps somehow. You need time to think, implement, and especially test a lot. The more freedom and flexibility you give your systems, the more opportunities you give the player to break them haha. So for a jam, I try to keep things tight.
Something I usually do is make sure that by the end of the first day, I already have the core loop working, including the beginning and the win condition. I never want to leave the ending for the final days. From that point on, I can expand, polish, and add content, knowing that technically I could build and submit the game at any moment. In a jam you're always going to run out of time — sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end, but you're going to run haha.
For me, a game should be fun, but I also want it to be meaningful. Sometimes I achieve that, sometimes I don't. I usually have a little mental checklist:
- It has to be beautiful.
- It has to be meaningful.
- It should be about a journey, whatever kind of journey that may be.
- It has to tell you something.
That's how I try to make people feel something. I think we all have something we want to share, and games are an amazing way to do that.
As for a commercial release... I don't know yet. I work at a game studio, and I know firsthand that making a commercial game is hard, long, and expensive. I definitely want to make my own commercial game eventually, but right now jams are training for me, and the feedback I get from them is probably the most valuable part.
You can learn these lessons here, or you can take your chances somewhere else where the stakes are much higher. The sad truth is that outside of a jam, you can make a game and almost nobody may play it, even if it's free. Players are incredibly demanding customers. You might buy something you see on the street just because it catches your attention, but with a game, people will read reviews, watch trailers, streams, and gameplay before deciding whether it's worth their time and money.
So the short answer is: not right now, but eventually, yes. And hearing that you would wishlist this one on Steam definitely means a lot to us!
Hey, thanks a lot for this long and interesting reply ! Can I copy-paste it to keep it somewhere in my tips folder ?
I gathered you were probably pro given the quality of your game, it's really nice to share your knowledge like this <3 I totally agree with the idea it has to be meaningful. It's actually also one thing I love with jams: there are some games that are not super-polished, but their creators have a way of telling stories / sharing emotions that clics for me and I love that. That's also why I'm thinking of turning toward a more narrative genre for my next jam entry - but I think it will depend on the theme and what I decide to learn next.
As for the visuals and conception, I still have a lot to learn. I'm in my 30s but I'm disabled and working at companies and having to go there just doesn't work for me - I already burnt-out twice. But I can work from home 10h/day 5-6 days a week on games. So I figured I'd try to turn my main hobby into my job. Maybe it will take time but I don't really have another choice and so far I love programming and want to learn art and game-design basics when the time comes. (Otherwise I think I could do with just programming, and paying artists for their work). So "beautiful" won't be there for me at first but I hope I'll be able to make it ultimately !
I hope you'll manage to publish your own commercial games some day then. I think you do have talent about story-telling, game-design AND actually making the game. Good luck !!!!
Of course, feel free to copy-paste anything I wrote! If something I learned can help someone else, I’m more than happy to share it.
I actually started my game-dev journey in my 30s too, so I really believe any time is a good time to start, as long as you keep learning and moving forward.
I’m sorry to hear about what you’ve been through. I’d recommend approaching game dev as a side project at first if your situation allows it. Look at what other solo developers have done, study their successes and especially their failures, and learn from them. Making a living from games is already difficult enough, so having some stability while you learn can take a lot of pressure off the creative process.
Narrative games are interesting because they can be relatively simple mechanically, but keeping the player engaged through a story is a completely different challenge. You need momentum: knowing when to push things forward, when to reveal something, and when to slow down and give the player some breathing room. I’d really recommend reading about dramatic structure before diving too deep into one.
And try to have the core of your story figured out early. Once you've built half the game around a narrative, changing its foundations can become very expensive haha.
Also, don't worry too much if “beautiful” isn't there at first. Programming, art, design, storytelling — they're all skills you develop over time. You don't need to master everything at once, and working with artists is absolutely a valid path too.
Thanks a lot for the kind words, and seriously, feel free to ask me anything. I always enjoy helping other devs when I can!
Thank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed it!.
And sorry about the Spanish haha. The game should detect your browser language automatically, but it seems to fail sometimes. You can change it to English by going to Opciones → Idioma and pressing E or Enter.
And yes, the movement is definitely something we’ve flagged for improvement. Now that you know about the language setting, we’d love it if you gave the game another try and got to experience the story in English!
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!
The visuals are absolutely stunning! Oh my god it reminds me so much of monument valley! The puzzles were nice, but the visuals are amazing. You even made a custom loading screen! SO PRETTY
I'd appreciate if you could check out my game too!
Submitted
Everything is Against YouThank you so much! We’re really glad you liked the visuals — and yes, Monument Valley was definitely one of our main inspirations!
The custom loading screen actually has a technical purpose too! Besides loading the files, I use it to “warm up” the GPU. While the loading screen is showing, I instance and render the level resources once, so the shaders get compiled and the meshes and textures are uploaded to VRAM before gameplay starts.
That way, everything is already prepared when it first appears in-game, which helped us get rid of the little stutters we were getting in the web build.
So if you ever run into something similar in a web game, that’s one way to deal with it!
And of course, I’ll check out your game too. Thanks for playing!
Amazing visuals and vibe. Figuring out the puzzle was pretty difficult at time, but fun!
If you'd like, you can try out my game at https://tijntjohh.itch.io/work-in-progress
Submitted
Work In ProgressThanks! Really glad you liked it! And yeah, some of the puzzles definitely could have been communicated a bit better haha.
Of course, I’ll check out your game too!
Just a small tip: ask your friend to add you as an admin/contributor to the itch.io project. That way, the game can show up on your profile too, and you can easily share it when commenting on other games. We made this game with three friends, and they all have it on their profiles as well.
Thanks for playing!
I love the visuals and the minimalist architecture (probably inspired by Monument Valley?). Gameplay-wise, it's pretty simple and effective, but a few mechanics aren't super clear especially the copy mechanic with lever. Same for the climbing, which could have used better environement feedback so you know you can grab the walls. On the audio side, the music is cool, but I would've liked more variation in the SFX for movement and dialogue, as they get a bit repetitive and annoying over time.
Great job!
Submitted
Nine lives, one curseThank you so much! And yes, Monument Valley was definitely one of our main inspirations, along with Journey and Tomb Raider GO, so you caught that haha.
We totally agree with the feedback. Some mechanics, especially the lever interactions and climbing, needed better visual communication. We ran a bit short on time for that final layer of polish.
Same with the audio — more SFX variation would definitely help, especially since you hear those sounds quite a lot throughout the game.
Really glad you enjoyed the visuals and the overall experience. Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback!
Thanks for playing! Sorry to hear you found it too difficult.
Yeah, some of the puzzles aren’t as intuitive as we would have liked, and the movement system combined with the camera angle definitely doesn’t help sometimes. That’s something we need to improve and communicate better.
Thanks for the feedback!
The visuals is what hooked me in that game, really enjoyed the atmosphere as a whole, great job team !
On the gameplay side I might have encountered a minor issue in which the door didn't open even after interacting with the lever, maybe it can be more instinctive ? Still really nice level design !
Submitted
Eleventh King of HellThank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed it.
And yes, some of the puzzles weren’t communicated as clearly as we would have liked. In some levels, progressing requires completing all the dialogue, collecting all the memory shards, or meeting specific conditions — like having a lever and pressure plate activated at the same time.
We definitely need to make those conditions more intuitive and clear to the player.
Thanks for the feedback! Now that you know this, we’d love it if you gave the game another try!
The visuals are stunning and the presentation is so well polished! From the UI and menus to the levels themselves. Even though it was built with premade assets it’s put together very nicely! The narrative is interesting in an abstract kind of way that you really have to stop and process what’s going on. It really adds to the theme implementation I think, as it relies heavily on the narrative.
Congrats on the entry, this one really stands out from a lot of the others!
Submitted
Zero TrustThank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed the visuals, presentation, and especially the story!
Just to clarify, only the lever, the door and saw were premade (and only because we forgot to replace them haha). We modeled pretty much everything else ourselves, using GridMesh, basic shapes, shaders, texture painting, and colors to create the atmosphere.
We were probably a bit too ambitious with the scope and didn’t have enough time to fully polish the playthrough. Since we wanted to make a puzzle game this time, we relied heavily on the narrative for our interpretation of the theme.
I always try to make games that feel beautiful, or at least cohesive and atmospheric with the story I want to tell, so I’m really glad you got the vibe! If you enjoyed that aspect of the game, you might also like Lux Ultima on my profile — it has a similar focus on atmosphere and storytelling.
Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback!
Thank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed the aesthetic and movement!
We actually took a lot of inspiration from Monument Valley, Journey, and Tomb Raider GO, so you definitely caught the vibe we were going for!
We rely heavily on color palettes to build the atmosphere and evoke certain feelings, always trying to keep them cohesive with what’s happening in the story and the world.
Really glad that came through. Thanks for playing!
The visual are amazing! I got strong Monument Valley vibes from them. The moment or inputs to be more specific don’t feel that intuitive to me. I first thought that it was free movement type of game before I ran into the buzzsaw levels and noticed that everything advances with the player in grid moment style.
Submitted
SolsticeThank you so much! We’re really glad you liked the visuals, and the Monument Valley comparison means a lot to us — we actually took inspiration from both Monument Valley and Tomb Raider GO!
And yes, we definitely need to work on communicating the grid-based movement better. It was intended to be part of the puzzle mechanics from the beginning, but we can see how it can initially feel like free movement.
Thanks for playing and for the feedback!
This game is very pretty I absolutely adore the visuals. The volume and sfx is a little loud but I wasn't able to navigate the menu because I could understand the language.
The gameplay was very well done I found the puzzles very interesting. The movement does feel stiff and a little too fast though when moving.
But overall a wonderful game.
Submitted
East HillThank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed the visuals and the puzzles!
Sorry about the language issue! The game should detect your browser language automatically, but apparently something went wrong there. You can change it by going to Opciones → Idioma, pressing E or Enter.
We also appreciate the feedback about the movement and audio levels. We hope you give it another try and get to experience the story we crafted!
Thanks for playing and for the kind words!
The game is pretty good. I liked how the movement systems works and how the obstacles move along with you. There was a bit too much dialogue or maybe it wasn't interesting enough for me, not sure which it is. Game looks great and UI is amazing for such a a small project
I think I encountered a bug where I died on the level with the moving platforms, after which the robot wouldn't talk to me and I couldn't advance though the game for some reason. I ran around the level but coludn't find anything to do to advance. Also it's not obvious that when you're on a platform and move it will float you to the other segment of the platform. It seems like if you move you'll fall because the platform will move out of the way but no, the player just floats.
I played this for more time than most games so far, good job!
Submitted
Trust NoahThank you so much! We’re really glad you liked it.
Thanks for pointing out those issues too. We struggled a bit with polishing everything before the deadline, so there are definitely a few bugs and things we could communicate better, especially with the moving platforms.
If the game gets stuck like that, you can restart the level from the pause menu or from the main menu. Not ideal, of course, but it should let you continue playing.
Thanks again for playing and for the feedback!
What a cool dreamy vibe! I love the aesthetic and how this game executes on the theme. The memory collection mechanic was a cool layer. The mapping of the controls to the angle of the screen takes a little getting used to, but I loved the mechanic where the movement of obstacles was tied to your movement, enabling the player to think through the puzzles!
Submitted
MirroredThank you so much! We’re really glad you enjoyed the atmosphere and the memory mechanic!
The movement system was definitely one of the trickiest parts for us to get right, so we really appreciate the feedback. And we’re especially happy you liked the movement-based obstacles — we wanted the puzzles to make you stop and think about every move.
Thanks for playing!
The music is pretty good but too loud so i had to lower my computer volume, should add a volume system maybe?
the movement is pretty janky unless you press one key at a time which is probably the intended way but not explained?
it fits the theme but seems to be too simple and doesnt innovate much
the visuals are simple but pleasant
a bug i found is i died once but then died right after restarting? in the 2nd saw
and there seems to be lore but dont have time to play the entire thing but its fun and maybe ill play it more later
Submitted
{Don't} Trust YourselfHi! We’re really glad you liked the music and the aesthetic — we worked hard on those!
About the movement: it’s a puzzle game based on a grid system, so moving one direction at a time is intentional. But you’re right that we could do a better job communicating that to the player.
For the music and sound effects, you can adjust their volume in Settings from the main menu, or from the pause menu by pressing P.
Thanks for the feedback and for reporting the bug with the second saw! We’ll definitely take a look at it. And thanks for playing!
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