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Project Phantom's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #3 | 3.665 | 3.958 |
| Audio / Sound Design | #3 | 3.858 | 4.167 |
| Gameplay / Fun / Engagement | #4 | 3.703 | 4.000 |
| Theme | #10 | 3.626 | 3.917 |
| Art Style / Visuals | #16 | 3.472 | 3.750 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
A glitch can have many causes, some more sinister than others.
In our game, the uninvited guest is an entity, taking different forms in the editor of an eccentric developer, for whom you, the player, are testing a game.
Game Engine?
Unity
Game Engine / Tools (Other)
Blender
Self-made & used stuff
Graphics/Art (e.g. models and/or textures)
Audio (e.g. music and/or sound effects)
Assets (e.g. free or purchased assets used in the game)
Have you joined a game jam before?
No
Roughly how much time did you spend developing? (in hours)
45
Anything else you'd like to share about your game or development process?
My first game jam, and it was a blast!
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Comments
This is very impressive for a first game jam! I love the atmosphere and the idea of using playtesting for the narrative was very cleaver (bonus point for the voice acting !). My only criticism would be that when you die you have to start again from the beginning, and I didn't feel like starting all over again. By the way one of my friends did play the game and told me it brought him back to the title screen, but I just got a red screen and nothing else. But overall, it was very cool and you managed to give me chills!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for playing :) You could ask your friend if he saw the credits before he was taken to the title screen. That would mean he won. And yes a red screen means a loss. I agree, the game has balancing issues towards the end due to lack of playtesting. All of that will be fixed after the jam finishes. Thanks again!
This is mind-blowingly good for the short duration of work. Major props!
I've been trying to make a point of having some criticisms for every game I played no matter how small. I can't come up with anything for this.
Whoa that's some high praise! Thank you!
I'm not much of a horror games player, so the jump scares did get me. I knew that they were just untextured models and I'm just a tester, but the sounds and stuff were done well enough to cause some proper goosepumps and jumpiness in me :D.
So well done! The premise is quite clever as well.
It would have been cool, if I had even more commands that I could do.
Overall a great job!
Yes custom commands would've taken it to the next level but couldn't find the time :')
Thanks for playing! I feel a good horror game can scare no matter what the premise is. Audio, lighting and visuals play equal roles in making something scary.
I'd like to play your game, but it does not load in web :(
EDIT:
Really impressive work! The game feels surprisingly polished, and the fact that you even added voice acting is a huge plus, especially given the limited time. It is a horror game, and yeah… it actually got me a few times, not gonna lie xD. I love the concept of chatting with the dev and playing as a tester while still getting freaked out. That mix of meta-humor and tension works so well.So: It fits the Halloween theme!
This project has massive potential to become a full game. There’s already a solid story foundation, clever world-building, some great comedic moments....A kind of like Portal’s tone, only wrapped in a creepier atmosphere. A few small hiccups though (nothing major, but worth fixing): stepping on buttons repeatedly causes the dialogue to trigger again (not instantly, it loops after the whole room’s dialogue finishes). Also, being forced to wait behind invisible walls until certain lines end can be a bit frustrating... maybe replace those with visible doors or barriers for clarity.
And about the red room: I suddenly died shortly after and wasn’t entirely sure why. If that’s intentional, maybe make it clearer, or consider adding checkpoints, because restarting from the beginning feels rough (and I didn't because this would be too much). Still, all in all, a fantastic jam entry. Tons of charm and clear effort behind it.
Oh is that so? I think it needs more optimizations, but as far as I've tested, it does load, multiple other people have also played on the web. If it doesn't load, try another browser, or download it please :)
I'll certainly do!
Reply to the edit:
Thanks for the kind words! The dialogue issue was due to the fact that dialogues get queued, which turned out to be double edged sword cause dialogues which are meant to trigger instantly also get delayed. And yes, the climax has to be made easier and more balanced, and I have a few ideas in mind on how to do that. I'll fix it after the jam :) Making the doors visible is also a good idea.
I was surprised to see (or to hear) the voice acting part. Surprised you pulled this out in only 4 days. Huge congratulations from me, well done!
Thanks! Yes it was challenging especially managing all the tiny voice files and sorting and dragging them into the dialogue scripts :)
We played together with a friend, so I'll write a comment with two opinions :)
simalami: I, the one sending this comment, liked the game! I liked the concept and the fourth-wall breaking. Like it or not, that always excites me! The voice acting is excellent! You have great acting skills! It's simply impeccable. I also like how you decided to save on models through the narrative, hahaha. It's great to be in the role of a tester and help the developer find bugs. The only thing I didn't understand was the moment when the doll without a texture started chasing us. It caught us and the game ended and everything started over from the beginning. Is that intended? I understand that creating checkpoints is quite difficult in such a short period, but still, I'd like to say that throwing the player back to the very beginning after death kills the desire to play. And one more thing that inspired me: the storytelling! You did a great job with the scripts and the feeling that the game is alive, and the voice-over really feels like it's talking to you.
That's my opinion! It's cool that you participated in this project! Thank you so much! You are just magnificent peppers! I wish you further development!
theddawwroni: [SPOILER] It's quite dynamic, it grabs your interest from the first seconds and continues with humor. Yes, the game really doesn't come across as a horror, but it gives such a warm feeling that the developer is talking to you, it's pleasant. 7.5/10*
Thanks for the 2-in-1 review! Yes that is intended, although, i agree, there are some balancing issues. Namely, the mannequin catches up too fast (especially in the first part where the player doesn't know yet). Also towards the end there's another moment where it's difficult and needs refining. Will do all of that after the jam :)
This is a good one! Firstly- any time you see a jam game with voice acting (and decent one at that), you know you ar in for a ride! And a ride it was! You took a bunch of untextured models, and made it WORK!
You got the spooky atmosphere, but you didn't end there! What will work on a bunch of people making games? A game about making games! Seriously- having all those commands appearing in the console was a nice touch.
Great idea, brilliant execution.
ONE nitpick from me. I didn't get to the end- the "move-when-you-are-not-looking" lady got me. It would be cool if there was an option to start from there instead of having to play the game from the start.
Other than that- awesome work!
Thanks kkcn! And yes there are some balancing issues in the last part of the game. Will fix it after the jam finishes :)
oh wow this was an EXPERIENCE. i really loved this one. the process of making a game inside a game was genuinely so cool. the voice acting was really nice, too. As far as I played, i didn't notice any game-breaking bugs. It genuinely got a chill or two out of me, too. One thing I can say is that, sometimes, just sometimes and i have no idea if it's intentional, the brightness is a tad TOO low. maybe it's just my laptop. who knows. but other wise, it's just a really nice experience that i won't forget very easily.
Keep it up!!
Appreciate the glowing review :)
About the brightness issue - noted!
I didnt expect "meta" gameplay on this jem, but dammit u did it =D
But ending with 2 "angels" without savepoint too rough
you're right, we didn't get much time for playtesting so there are a few balancing issues. i did reduce the speed of the second mannequin, but seems like its still quite fast. congrats on reaching till there btw, there were easy ways to lose before that also :)
Just WOW! Idea of chat and that uninvited guest is code bug is wow
Thank you! Yeah, wanted to go with a 'meta' idea :)