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The Yearbook's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Satisfaction | #2 | 4.250 | 4.250 |
| Interactivity | #2 | 4.417 | 4.417 |
| Solvability | #2 | 4.375 | 4.375 |
| Curiosity | #4 | 4.292 | 4.292 |
| Overall | #5 | 4.083 | 4.083 |
| Immersion | #7 | 4.292 | 4.292 |
| Jam Theme | #12 | 3.875 | 3.875 |
| Surprise | #15 | 3.083 | 3.083 |
Ranked from 24 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme
For the time being, let's just say everybody in the room run out of time. The jam topic becomes clearer when you complete the game.
AI Disclosure
AI was used for pose references in the original hi-res art. Also for some character names.
Team Member Credits
Original idea by Ped and thistle.
Art originally drafted by zarina and pixelized by thistle.
Music and sound effects from OpenGameArt.com.
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Comments
This was fun! I tend to get stuck on this type of deductive game, but I actually didn't with this one.
Glad to hear! Thanks very much for your feedback!
Hello! I like the mystery genre and am new to mystery games. If it's helpful to the dev team to know, I played this in one sitting and solved the game in an hour!
I enjoyed using the yearbook to identify the bodies and since some of the characters/archetypes are distinct, I didn't spend much time going back and forth (although I did need to Google what the Grand National was!) I did think that the report part was a little more underwhelming than the initial investigation, but it also directed me to clues that I hadn't read fully during the identification portion. Having the forensics and arson tabs/buttons to reference was helpful as well! (As an aside, I found body #17 to be the hardest to identify...)
Shipping this whole in a single month is impressive enough and I would love to see how your team develops it further now that the jam is over! I'll make sure to keep an eye out for any future updates. :)
Thanks very much for your kind comments. You are more than welcome to chip in with new ideas. :)
It's great to know how long it took you to complete the game---we couldn't estimate it reliably because we knew all the answers, but now we have an actual idea :).
Also, it's interesting to know that body #17 was difficult. We thought the most difficult ones would be the ones around the dance floor!
We agree about the report. We had a deadline to meet for the jam and couldn't put as much work on the report part as we would have liked to. Our executive decision under pressure was to make it functional enough for the game to be "finishable". But we know it doesn't look awesome, and also that some of the answers are a little ambiguous. So let's just say it still needs a bit of work. :)
Our idea is to keep improving the game. Who knows, maybe we'll launch it on steam at some point. This jam is being a great opportunity to collect feedback, so thanks very much again for taking the time to comment.
Our team played this together on call! Comments:
Aiya: This feels really complete and polished. I think the interactive elements are really awesome and made me feel like a detective! I can tell you guys had a lot of fun coming up with all of the designs and personalities for the students.
Zero: We got stuck at some points because the way things were laid out or worded could be a bit confusing, and due to people in the yearbook not getting crossed out we missed someone and ended up really lost for a while. Despite that, though, this was a fun time! I think it's a super creative concept, and I'd love to see it elaborated on with a more complex mystery.
Thanks very much for your comments. Your feedback is really valuable and welcome, I think we should polish certain things a bit more. Crossing out characters is definitely on the list, we just didn't have enough time to implement everything we wanted.
I am still playing through your game, expect some comments soon! :)
Trust me, we understand. We left a lot out too, and I feel like our gameplay is a lot less fleshed out than yours. While we are confident in our individual skills, we aren't as experienced in gamedev, and I think it shows (lol). I'm guessing you guys have been doing this a lot longer? We have lots to learn from you~
I hope you enjoy Miracle Heart! Very exciting to know that you're playing it!! ^^
-Aya
This was super impressive! Having so many characters with all these little details to them made the whole thing feel really fleshed out, especially with having to cross-reference all the different sources of information. It did feel a bit intimidating at first though considering how many victims there were, sort of a "where do I even start?" mentality, but the whole game is a great achievement, especially in just one month!
Thanks very much for your comment. We did put a lot of effort into it, so it means a lot that people are actually having fun with our game.
I enjoyed yours too!
The attention to detail is truly impressive! That goes for the story of course, coming up with so many characters, fictional events etc. must have been a ton of work already. And then there is also all that detail regarding the forensic stuff. And the game art. Plus the overall vibe and atmosphere is also fitting, especially with the choice for the background music. This is great work and the effort that went into it really shows!
I did manage to solve the case, too. Yay!
Gameplay wise I found it to drag on a little bit. Maybe having less victims to identify and instead some other deductive activity would help with that? Also I would have liked something to cross of yearbook entries so that I know who I don't have to consider anymore (though it was still manageable). I did not enjoy the report part too much, because I kinda knew what happened already and wanted to finish at that point. Although I like the idea to get the point accross of how the events played out.
But one must emphasize that the bar for criticism is really high here. This does many, many things right and it was fun solving this! Great game!
Thanks very much for the feedback. You're right that the focus on identifying bodies can get old quickly. The original idea was to add to more layers of gameplay, one to do with fire dynamics and another one to further fleshen out the events of 2011. But we run out of time. :P :D
Even if I couldn't solve the report properly, I still think it's a great entry, I feeled compelled to solve it! I really enjoyed this game.
Thanks very much for trying! And please, feel free to ask for hints. :)
i am pretty sure I nailed everything, probably I just missed a specific word combination, the report seems a bit vague sometimes.
If the game let you proceed to the ending screen, then you nailed it. :)
If you remember, any feedback as to where the report feel vague would help us improve.
Thanks again!
This was such a great game! The gameplay is really satisfying, and the story is immersive and chilling. I especially enjoyed digging through the yearbook and uncovering the contrast between the “perfect” surface and the darker truth underneath. You can really feel how much effort and passion went into this. Amazing job!
Thanks very much for your kind comment. We are really happy you enjoyed it!
Cool game! It really makes you want to solve this case. I love that all the clues are in the yearbook and you have to really think to match every person with the discription. Great job!
Thanks very much for your comment. A lot of effort went into this game, so it's great to know people enjoyed it.