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A jam submission

The Vaults Below Durn : A Field Study (Game Jam Version)View game page

Three doors. One safe path. Deduce the way forward or perish in the vaults.
Submitted by Gongylus — 9 hours, 17 minutes before the deadline
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The Vaults Below Durn : A Field Study (Game Jam Version)'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#473.8913.891
Audio#513.8753.875
Theme#574.1884.188
Visuals#834.3124.312
Enjoyment#1093.8443.844
Innovation#1573.6253.625
Gameplay#1703.5003.500

Ranked from 32 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does the game fit the theme?
The Vaults Below Durn are a strange place. Their passages go on forever, and it has never been mapped, nor the creatures who reside there studied. This is a story of the first field survey.

What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
The Vaults Below Durn was made by indie developer, Natasha Handley. The following assets were not made by her :

Furniture Models - Unity Asset Store - Anil Isbilir

Character Animations - Mixamo

Sound Effects :

https://freesound.org/people/newlocknew/sounds/840731/
https://freesound.org/people/Galbenshire/sounds/464520/
https://freesound.org/people/izzylikesnoise/sounds/761118/
https://freesound.org/people/satanicupsman/sounds/184720/
https://freesound.org/people/newlocknew/sounds/713545/
https://freesound.org/people/TRP/sounds/577273/
https://freesound.org/people/TRP/sounds/577273/

All other assets were made by Natasha Handley, including the environment and character models, as well as the programming and game design.

How many people worked on the game?
1

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Comments

Viewing comments 29 to 10 of 29 · Next page · Last page
Submitted

Very nice game! I really liked the ending of the story mode!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

I like the atmosphere and the concept. It was really "funny" or scary xD !

Developer

Thank you :D

Submitted(+1)

This is a really cool and innovative game! I loved the idea of the game, and it works very well in creating that uneasy atmosphere you are going for. The story is intriguing too, with a sad twist at the end. Nice work! Also, thank god for having that visual substitution for the knocking, since I can't have absolute silence and focus on the audio, it was a really helpful QoL option indeed.

Other things I like:

  • Graphic is nice with a really consistent artstyle
  • I game tutorial and input prompts

Suggestions:

  • The game suffers a bit from a lot of waiting, as sound and wind may happen after quite some time. I would suggest reducing the waiting time for the effects, but adding more stuff to look for instead. This should make the game more enjoyable while not reducing the difficulty at the same time
  • Knocking sound should be a bit more distinct than the footstep sound
  • The idle animation of toying with the torch seriously messes with the whole flickering light, and I would suggest removing that
  • The environment would need a bit more variation too if the game is being further developed
Developer

Thank you so much for such helpful feedback! I think you raised a lot of good points. I'm working on expanding the game right now for a Steam release and I'll implement your suggestions! 

If it's something you'd be interested in checking out down the road, here is the Steam page. Thanks again for playing!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4494830/The_Vaults_Below_Durn_A_Field_Study/

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Very well achieved atmosphere that I think goes hand in hand with the theme. I love the cues based deduction mechanic, one of the most immersive games I tried on this Jam!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

Congratz for making such a nice game!

Submitted(+1)

Thanks for submitting your game to the stream! If you wanted to look at the playthrough again in the future here's the VOD timestamped to your game


Developer

Thanks for playing! I really enjoyed your game too.

Did you pick up on the meaning of the credits cutscene? I'm currently building an expanded Steam version that plays more into the lore. :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Not really to be honest (someone on a stream I watched called out the meaning though but I completely forgot what they said about it atm)

Developer (1 edit)

Ah ok. I won't explain it here since that would be spoilers haha. Thanks again for playing it!

Developer

When we can update the games, I've got this lined up. It is an audio calibration screen that will appear before the main menu so we can dial in the volume :)  (It looks better than the gif)

Submitted(+1)

Really well done atmosphere and visual and audio aesthetics. You really nailed the spooky vibes. One minor criticism is that the idle animation for the torch was sometimes a bit much, as you'd be standing near the door waiting to see if the torch flickers and then the animation would clip the torch through the wall and obscuring the light. Once I got used to the cues though, it didn't really negatively impact progress. Really great and well polished game!

Developer

Thank you for the feedback! Yh, I noticed that too. I tried to counteract it by having the player turn away from the door if they are standing too close before starting the idle animation. Sounds like it still clips occasionally. I'll look at improving that. :) Thanks again!

Submitted(+1)

great atmos! brrrr....

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

I absolutely loved the eerie atmosphere! The 3D models are gorgeous and there’s a great sense of visual consistency throughout the game. The UI is very sleek, and the lighting and sound design do a great job of setting the mood. It was a great experience overall!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing ^_^ glad you liked it!

Submitted(+1)

I love the atmosphere and was really impressed by the visuals. The difficulty curve is a bit weird, it starts off super hard because you don't know the tell tails and are unsure of what to look for, and as you progress you get more and more hints of how to avoid the wrong door, so if you get past the second od third door you're pretty much good. I also found the sound to be a bit low. That said, once you get the hang of it the game is pretty enjoyable, and the story endgame cut-scene is a pretty nice addition! Very well done!

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you for your feedback. That's interesting. I added the field guide on the game's page yesterday and I think that may have overcomplicated the first two rooms. 

If I may ask, were you looking for all three signs in the first and second room? In the first room, you only need to worry about the wet patches. I've actually just updated the game description to make that clearer for new players so they don't overthink the start!

Congrats on getting to the end and glad you liked the cutscene! Thank you again for playing.

Submitted(+1)

I wasn’t looking at all three signs. I didnt read the guide and was only reading room pages. The first room I couldn’t tell which walls were wet, I could only see the water on the floor. Second room I couldn’t hear any sound until i put the volume way up. Maybe it would have helped if I used headphones but I was on speakers. After that it was easy to tell the two signs, especially with the torch blowing, maybe thats a good first level mechanic as it’s way easier to tell apart :) Again these are very minor things, the game as a whole is pretty amazing and it’s impressive it was done in such short time period.

Developer (1 edit)

Ah thank you. So it is a mechanical problem. Yh, I think I need to add some kind of volume calibration before the menu screen, or add the Hard of Hearing mode overlay to the base game. Thank you for providing more information ^_^ That's very helpful and thanks again for playing!

Submitted(+1)

Spooky scary tentacles, excellent atmosphere!

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted

Fantastic job! <3

Developer

Thank you!

Submitted(+1)

The visuals are really impressive, and the audio complements them well.

I like the concept and the replay value it brings.
The animations are a nice touch too.
Solid work!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on our game as well if you get the chance.

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and for your kind words!

Submitted(+1)

Amazing entry for this game jam. Super polished (the most polished I played so far in this game jam). You could probably sell this game. It reminded me a bit of some board games like Mansion of Madness. It is a game that has a good market too :)

Great sound design, visuals, great gameplay :)

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and for your kind words ^_^ I'll have to have a think about how to take this further if I wanted to make it commercial.

Submitted(+1)

Really cool idea! It would be great if a successful door would go a bit quicker to the next room, but not a bad thing to build the suspense at this speed! I love that you also say in your page that there are no jumpscares, because I might have not played otherwise haha.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! I enjoy a good jumpscare now and then but I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea ^_^ 

Submitted(+1)

The atmosphere is really well made, I love the lighting and the sound effects! Cool game!

Developer

Thank you for playing!

Submitted(+1)

The visuals and atmosphere were amazing! It was very tense figuring out the safe door but I made it to the end.
I did have some trouble with the knocking, it felt like it took a long time to knock but I could've been missing it.

Overall a really solid game! Well done! 

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and reaching the end! You did it! Yes, the knocking can be anywhere between 3-10 seconds apart. And the flickering. I like there to be a little bit of uncertainty when you open a door ^_^

Submitted(+1)

Wow this was a great experience! I really liked it.

My main issue is that the drool is really hard to notice at first, as in the way it's described I really did not notice it anywhere because I was looking at like, the edges of the door.

The knocking and the light flickering were good, but I do feel like they take a bit too long to happen. Just a tad.

I would have liked for the rooms to not always just have one correct door, like perhaps there are some dead ends sometimes, so that you wouldn't just always default to the first door you find with only one sign, but maybe that's just me.

Other than that, it's a very impressive game for just one person in one week! Thanks for submitting

Developer(+1)

Thank you for playing and for your detailed feedback! It sounds like the knocking could be made more frequent.

Submitted(+1)

The UI and lighting is superb in this one. The core gameplay loop is also nice with understandable ending

Developer

Thank you! And GG for getting to the ending!

Viewing comments 29 to 10 of 29 · Next page · Last page