Very well put together! I love the theme, and the simple mechanics come together nicely to give a sense of tension. I like the audio cues and morse code mechanics especially. It's definitely challenging; it took me two tries to finish the first level. Avoiding torpedoes felt the most challenging, and also kind of the least interesting, if I'm honest. It didn't feel like there way any rhyme or reason to the angle you need to hit to avoid them, so it came down to flinging the steering wheel around until the line turned green. It works, but for the main mechanic it felt a little flat. But you've nailed putting together an atmosphere with simple mechanics and assets. Simulators are typically get complex and hard to get into, and you've shown that it doesn't need to be. My hat is off to you!
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Convoy's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #7 | 4.438 | 4.438 |
| Audio | #11 | 4.423 | 4.423 |
| Seriousness | #12 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Creativity & Theme | #27 | 4.538 | 4.538 |
| Visuals | #36 | 4.654 | 4.654 |
| Enjoyment | #136 | 4.077 | 4.077 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Thank you!
I have a little time, so I can break down my thoughts on the u-boat mechanic.
I did initially want to make the torpedo launching at the ship hitbox more accurate (i.e. moved as the ship moved forward), but with the additional mechanics that use up the player's concentration, I worried having to do mental math to figure out where a torpedo would actually travel would be too taxing (I later would realize that it would be hell to code as well). Another part of it is that steering is the only mechanic in the game that has two ways to damage the ship (going out of bounds insta-death and torpedo hit), and at higher difficulties, the torpedoes begin forcing the player to zig-zag (which is more historically accurate lol), adding additional stress that might take things too far.
As a result, I tried to keep the torpedo mechanic as simple as possible, but I'm afraid I couldn't get things exactly as I wanted it to, so apologies for that. I recently sent out a new version with lower difficulties too, so hopefully that helped a little.
Thank you as well for your comments on audio and atmosphere! I'm very surprised audio was my highest placement (in a way I feel it should be lower in respect to all the games in the jam with awesome audio!), but I'm glad dedicating a significant amount of time solely on audio and building the dread of being in what was a slow, defenseless, sometimes poorly built (19 Liberty ships straight up split in half from existing) vessel, panned out well in the end.
Thank you! (I can't believe I messed up the tutorial like that 😭)
I'll absolutely add key binding after this, thank you for the idea! Apologies on the sound front, the audio gets funky on different computers (and especially through playing on web), I'll most likely go in and lower sonar pings and add more volume sliders in the settings. Thanks again for all your thoughts!
Yeah, I've adjusted the sonar ping to be softer too (extra options are there in case I missed anything else, especially since some louder sounds like the flak and hit sfx aren't fully necessary to play)
I've uploaded the new version now (with some added things, now the game can properly save)! Feel free to let me know if you encounter anything that might hinder your experience :)
Thank you! My intention with the morse code being done through the spacebar was to allow the player to do it anywhere (similar to being able to close doors while in cams) instead of needing to always open up the morse code panel; however I absolutely did not communicate this to the player so I apologize!
Thank you! Perhaps the tutorial paper needs some tuning, thanks for the feedback! I appreciate the comment of progressive difficulty, it was a big goal of mine to both ease in mechanics without overwhelming the player too much while maintaining stress and tension as the player got better at the game.
Thank you! I spent a lot of time deliberating on how to achieve a good balance between background noise and vital audio cues, as well as with the camera movement and interactions, so it's awesome to hear this.
Thank you, and thank you for spending the time on such detailed feedback!! I'm glad you were still able to enjoy it with all its FNAF dna, I tried to aim close but not too close with unique ideas and mechanics. Apologies on the sonar sound, I'll def come back to tune it later! There was also meant to be reverb to muffle the game sounds but unfortunately technical issues with Godot came up at the last second. I appreciate the comment on visuals too, I initially wanted a style as seen in the location scenes but realized I was one person, so knowing its still achieved its goal is great news. Thank you!
That is EXACTLY what I hoped players would feel, thank you so much!!
There is a fifth final voyage (a reference to a certain Freddy's five nights) with increased difficulty, and commentary at the end about the sacrifices of the merchant marine, but I may have gotten too used to the difficulty, thats mb! I added a tips section to the description in your honor. Thank you again!
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