Loved the ambiance of the game! My first encounter with the enemy really scared the sh*t out of me. Just turned around, and he was right behind me. My only issue is that after that, I lost the scare factor and instead tried figuring out the solution to the puzzle, which I never ended up finding. It's a shame because I really wanted to continue forward in the game!
Overall, great atmosphere and love the style, just wish the puzzle was easier. Thanks for the game, I enjoyed my time either way!
Play game
Roughneck's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Horror | #10 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Aesthetics | #68 | 4.182 | 4.182 |
| Story | #134 | 3.136 | 3.136 |
| Sound Design | #186 | 3.273 | 3.273 |
| Creativity | #194 | 3.455 | 3.455 |
| Enjoyment (Best Game) | #256 | 3.091 | 3.091 |
Ranked from 22 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What game engine did you make this project in?
Unity
Comments
Nice cutscene and ambient. I didn't get the purpose of "sounds" and rounded in circles.
Submitted
Streaming Alive!Very cool visual style! I liked the shader you used; it adds a layer of corrosion and griminess to everything, which is very fitting for this kind of environment.
Unfortunately, I had a bug that, for some reason, prevented me from using the mouse in the game. So I was unable to look around or aim at anything and was walking backwards and sideways. I only got to the map crossroad and then decided to stop playing, because this was probably not the intended experience.
Submitted
Alien HermeneuticsOh wow that is very strange, I encountered that bug when I first built the game and then I removed the script that was causing the bug, so far no one else has said that they had this bug, this is quite strange... not sure what can cause that?
Thank you for trying out the game nontheless
Does your cursor lock to the screen, and check if your mouse sensitivity (in the mainmenu) is set to like 0 or something.
I checked the mouse sensitivity, and it was indeed set to 0 by default. Since nobody else has reported any problems like that, I assume this has something to do with my system, although I have no idea what could have caused it.
Anyway, thank you for helping fix the problem! Does it mean I'll still receive my million dollars in two weeks? ;)
Scary! The monster scared the s**t out of me the first time I died. Loved the grimy look and the harsh sound design. Despite many attempts, I was never able to solve the Morse code puzzle though. I think I got the correct numbers and entered them in tonal order, but nothing happens. Anyway, enjoyed my time playing!
Submitted
Movie Night at the End of the WorldWoooooow the look and atmosphere of this game is brilliant! I consider this "sickly" color palette hard to pull off, its well used here. But that also makes the boat's import that more obvious. Guessing you ran out of time and had to supplement - happens to the best of us. Your visual design is there and the gameplay is playable, but felt a little hard on direction. But maybe that added to the feeling of unease in being trapped there. I would call the shader a style of cel shading, but with pixelation, it works really well and is unique. Puzzle/task a bit c hallenging but I enjoyed the environment - please flesh it out further and thanks for sharing and for playing Party's Over! Now gimme that 1 milly :P
Submitted
Party's OVERThe puzzles are a bit difficult, and there are bugs, but the game is playable. I liked the atmosphere and the story. The boat though! Well done.
Submitted
Wingin' It!First thing, extremely terrifying atmosphere, even after I knew how the game operated the feeling uneasiness remained. Very interesting idea for a puzzle, very engaging and unique.
I managed to get the door handle once, on what I think was an accident. Because I've been unable to reproduce it despite entering what I think is the correct code, so I've been unable to experience the full game.
Despite the liking the concept for the puzzle I think there are a couple of problems in its design.
1. The signals. They vary by about 400hz, which seems like a lot but when you hear them separately it's very hard to know which one was higher or lower, I might also be partially tone-deaf(clinically) making this puzzle almost impossible to solve. I resorted to recording clips of the sound to check the frequencies in an audio program to get the right order. Still somehow couldn't get it to work even after I got what I thought was the correct code.
2. There is no hint in game to suggest the order it lowest to highest, you have to read the game page to even hope to solve it, which is not great for immersion. Maybe a small sticky note on the machine could help, or a metal sign next to it.
3. Why does the machine give me a door handle, or more importantly why would the player expect it to do so? After seeing a prompt about a missing door handle I spent good couple minutes walking looking for it to no avail, only by reading the comments I found that I need the radio puzzle to get it.
4. Rotating the dials should be possible both ways, or at least the player should be able to hold E until instead of having to spam it. This might have been done to prevent cheesing the puzzle, however based on my experience it made me feel pain each time I reconsidered the solution and wanted to try a new one.
The other thing is the monster. It's a very cool design despite being simple. No matter that I saw it like 10 times, it still made me jump and feel uneasy when it appeared. I don't think there is a way to avoid it once spawns however. Which means walking into it and trying again is the only way to get rid of it, perhaps it should despawn after a moment if the player runs away from it and isn't looking at it. Also, once it killed me through a wall, which while scary felt a bit cheap.
Next, very minor thing. Interact text is white making it hard to see with the flashlight sometimes. It could do with an outline or a shadow effect to be more readable. Also sometimes goes off the screen, I haven’t used unity so I have no idea what might be the cause for that.
Other minor thing, footsteps sounds sometimes clip the volume making an odd clicking noise. It’s, again, very minor thing, and should be easy to fix, but I’d rather bring it up rather than hope the developer will find it themselves.
Lastly, the boat used in the intro really clashes with the bit-crunched and low detail of the facility, and on one hand it highlights the ruined state of it. But on the other hand it very much feels so different I knew at a glance it was imported from outside, it did not fit the style. Maybe adding some noise to the texture or playing with the colors would make it feel less like an outsider. It’s seen for just a moment so I don’t think it’s especially high priority.
Despite being stuck with a puzzle which I knew how to solve but couldn't get right, I had fun through the atmosphere, which in my opinion is top notch for a horror game. The loud metal footsteps and the shader crunching the colors really made it feel lonesome and derelict. The music in the intro also pulled its weight in making me feel like there is no one to hear me scream. Overall, could use some work in some parts, but already excels in others.
Submitted
To Borrow a NecronomiconOh wow this is an amazing review! Thank you so much!!
The monster does despawn after like 15 seconds btw, not sure how you didn't get o that point, maybe the game build has a glitch, but whenever I playtested it, the monster would despawn.
The thing here you have to sort the numbers by pitch is only hinted really crypticially in the note you get at the beggining of the game, I really like the idea of the machine having a sticky note, so far one of the best reccomendations I got and I completely agree, I will deffinetly do a little bit of work on it post jam.
The boat is the only outside asset that I used, and yes it looks out of place :/ and the animation jitters a little I think, I had post jam time to fix thease things but I was a lil lazy honestly :P
I never tought about why the machine would give you the handle... kind of nonsensical yeah, maybe should have made it so that the generator is visibly connected to the storage room door and it opens it upon completion, the door handle bit was very unecessary...
Thank you so much for this detailed and insightful review, and thank you for going thrugh so much trouble just to beat this tedious game, I will deffinetly tweak some things after the jam and take your advice into consideration.
Edit: I just playtested it and yes, the monster does dissapeer after a short duration of time, one player actually tought the game was impossible cause they forgot to use shift to run, maybe you did the same thing?
Oh I see, I don’t think I realized I could sprint to be honest, or did so subconsciously, my bad. If I could make a suggestion on that - the footsteps should be quicker when the player runs to signify that, as the speedboost itself isn’t that noticeable.
I tried to test monster despawning once when I played it - When I heard the noise and ran back to spawn without looking back, and it jumped me near the starting ladder. I assumed based on my previous runs that it jumpscares you when you look at it, and that's why I didn't look back, but that might have been just a coincidence then. My bad on not fully testing out my theory and good job on implementing it then.
I actually probably never gotten to know it despawns because I encountered it right after it spawned most times. And 15 seconds is surprising long to run around especially if you don't know if it will go away. Maybe it could do with an additional timer, which starts when the player sees it(unless that's already how it works), one that is shorter, that gets longer more times player encounters it?
I think once when I sat around trying to input the code it might have despawned. Because after hearing the noise of it spawning, I ran to the machine room. And I don't think I have encountered it then when I left. There is no sound cue or anything like that if it goes away is there? So I didn't know if it disappeared or failed to spawn in the first place, not sure if that’s worth adding or if that might detract from the tension however.
The idea of making the generator open the door would be cool, and would also add some variance to the environment with cables going to the door.
I’d love to play the game updated post jam, so keep up the good work.
Ah you see, now you are asking the magician to reveal his tricks (triggers)
But yes, the generator room is a "safe zone" so that it does not corner the player (It will spawn again though), the spawning sound is just to add tension not to signify that the monster spawned, its a cheap trick only made for 1 time playtroughs, this jam I realized just how much the horror dev plays the magician with hidden tricks. A timer would kill the tension of the chase scene.
The biggiest problem with replaying the game is that everything was made to be only encountered once and thats it, the game is basically the opposite of replayable.
It despawns after 15 seconds but it stops chasing you after like 10 seconds I think, just so the player does not immidately see it despawn, this is ofcourse guessing that the player does not stare back and see the monster stop.
Anyways. Thank you for playing and I'll shoot you a quick messege once the game is more polished and playable. Thanks once again for trying so hard to decipher this puzzle hell game!
Okay this game actually terrified me! It sends you into this claustrophobic metallic maze, with multiple rooms no guidance except the map that you have to read manually, no location pointer... It reminds me a lot of the old slenderman game. Good for you to dare cryptic, difficult puzzles and accept that players will get lost and struggle to solve your game. But that makes the game that much more scary, you get lost, you get frustrated, you get scared! Also visually very striking, a bit repetetive but oh well. And the sounds are horrific, they really got me going bad. Very well done!
The what the hellie dialogue at the beginning made me roll my eyes haha and the note from the dad and the family was kind of direct as well. It talks to you specifically instead of what a scared dad that lost his entire family in terror would write down in a situation like this. Other than that, very strong game!
Submitted
PARASITOSISI loved it. It's one of my favorites. The only drawback is that I don't like solving puzzles while being chased by a bug. Otherwise, it's great.
Submitted
Night in the Whispers: Low PulseIntro cinematic was good but maybe it would've been just as good without it so you could dedicate that time to other parts of the game. I enjoyed the environment and sound design, except for the monster scream 😭 Monster was super creepy and scared me really good the first time. It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I ended up stuck after collecting all the numbers of morse code, I wasn't sure what order to put them in. The physical maps were good and necessary, but maybe there's too many of them? The post processing was nice but really intense, making the highlights very blown out if you get too close to the wall. I also struggled to read the instructions and didn't even see the instruction to equip the device until my second playthrough, I was just wandering around without the morse code sheet. Maybe you could move them to the center of the screen and make them a more bold color. Overall very creative, I think rusty confined spaces make a great setting for horror games. I wish I got to find the item to cross the gap to the other side of the rig. Nice job!
Submitted
The WatchYeah it seems that very few people got how the codes need to be ordered, its kind of hinted in the original note "Codes seem to have a different pitch" but looks like it was still too mysterious and cloudy and could have been much better communicated visually! (Also there is a hint on the game page)
What is your resolution? I heard some people complain about stuff going offscreen at ceirtan resoloutions so thats why you might be having issues with some of the UI elements, someone already told me that making a select resoloution in settings would have been good but eh forogtem :P
Glad the monster scared you hehe
Thanks for the helpful feedback and for playing the game!
Very great aesthetic and atmosphere. I enjoyed exploring for a little bit but ultimately gave up. The map is quite large and there was nothing motivating me to explore other than "Get Batteries" haha. It was a bit tedious to walk all over but I think I get what you are going for with the map and exploration. Has potential.
Submitted
The StillnessSometimes I start feeling that I've grown desensitized to horror, and then I play a game like this and oh boy I am not chilling I am anxious and this is what terror must feel like.
Now, I personally suck at listen to Morse code, so I won't hold this against you, I quite liked the idea of it but because skill issues I found myself being rather confused and like frustrated, I wish there was like a note taking system or something lol. The map was fun, I can respect the map without pointer, makes the navigation more like involved for me, but I do say the layout of the map was unconventional to it's own detriment. Sounds though, at first I wasn't convinced, but I think what got to me the most was the sound design, I found myself hearing things I am not sure were real, constantly being on the edge, it is really good stuff.
Overall, great work. Like I feel most of the things I got are nitpicks, but for real, if you add like few quality of life things (mouse sensitivity setting, etc.) and hone out things a bit (missing colliders, etc), the game would be pretty solid little horror game.
Submitted
TAKEOUTThank you for the feedback and playing!
I absolutely agree on the map part, this jam I realized just how important playtesting is.. . The developer is oblivious to his games mistakes.
Do you have any tips on how the Morse code could be abit easier to understand? Also I figure the player would write down the codes they found on like a paper or notepad which is bad practice.
Ps. Regarding sound design, the sounds themselves are pretty basic, it's only important that the reverb matches the map and makes it feel so immersive and like the sounds a part of the world. All player action sounds are quite loud to make it feel like you are exposed and isolated :p
"The developer is oblivious to his games mistakes" is so true haha, been there myself so many times.
But the Morse code thing, it's hard for me to pin down because I'm not sure why it is so hard for me to like listen to it, I've figured it's because it's hard for me to differentiated between short noise (dots) and long noise (dashes) especially when they kinda just come on loop with short or even no pause in between, something about me being absolutely tone deaf and rhythmless. And again this, is purely like me-issue, this all means that I just need to take like longer on everything, but for me visual ques help a lot (forgive me if I missed them being there, I admit, panic also affected my skills here lol).
Also the notes, I also would like to think players do that, I mind myself like that, but alas, it seems I've also fallen for the old "there is no pen and paper near me, time to give up". Which is sad we have forgotten the art of note taking, BUT also I do really like games which give you the ability to write notes yourself. Fun to doodle in games haha!
Okay I'm not good at putting my thoughts into words but here are some of the things I noticed that could be improved:
- The interaction system is somewhat inconsistent. It's difficult to know which doors can be opened because there's no hover behavior. It took me a while to open the generator room door because I pressed interact a couple times earlier and it didn't do anything (I was 1 pixel too far).
- Some parts of the level looks too similar to one another, making it hard to have a mental map of where you are. Idk if you could take the paper map from the wall or not but it would make the experience way smoother. Doesn't even have to be a live cursor on the map, just the physical map in your hands would lighten the mental burden of exploring the level.
- The previous point plus the door handle item not standing out enough makes it tiresome to look for.
Oh and I noticed some of the monolog texts are cut off from the screen. I use 1920x1080 resolution
Oh my fault, after I found the puzzle I went looking for the beep to find out the numbers. And I found a door saying "you need a handle" and I assumed I had to look around for it. So I did and this scary ass 6 foot 7 entity on all 4s caught me lacking and turned the game off. So you get the handle from the puzzle huh?
Yerp, anyways I just updated the game and added a holdable map, a messege when you can interact with objects, I did not add a messege for the doors to not break immersion but I made sure to make the triggers alot bigger.
Also if you get a bit more bold around the entity, you will witness him do some aura farming.
Thank you for the feedback, makes the game alot more readable and clean!
I loved the visuals, the dark lighting and rusty pipes with the echoed sounds...great atmosphere. A bit difficult for me to find where to go unfortunately!
Submitted
Goodtown Halloween RunThe atmosphere is great and the monster is terrifying. I also like how doors close around the place as you explore. Unfortunately, I have terrible pitch and couldn't find the 4th signal so I wasn't able to solve the puzzle but I did enjoy the experience overall!
Submitted
Specterrieri love the aesthetic and the atmosphere in this! when that thing comes after me I cant help but feel terrified and hopeless which is exactly what I want form my horror games. Unfortunately I cant figure out how to get into the storage room and I don't know morse code but I'm intrigued to solve the puzzle
Submitted
Cursed Ambition
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