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44 Seconds Till Death's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Narrative | #712 | 3.618 | 3.618 |
| Enjoyment | #1324 | 3.676 | 3.676 |
| Audio | #1796 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
| Artwork | #3344 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
| Creativity | #3525 | 3.471 | 3.471 |
Ranked from 34 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?
You have only a limited time to perform the actions required to escape the reaper's curse.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Refer to game description
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
Bevan Guest & Dan Blain
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Comments
Great puzzle flow with a fair timer and a fun intro. The visuals and concept work really well, and the challenge ramps up nicely as you learn the routes. Familiar idea, but still very enjoyable. Well done!
Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Of all puzzle games, my favorites are always the ones where you need to perform under pressure. In fact, I beat the reaper's curse when the timer reached 0! Very stressful, but very enjoyable. Good job!
Thanks for checking the game out! Initially we were thinking that you’d lose as soon as the timer hit 0, but we found it more thrilling to instead be chased by the reaper, since it gives you an extra bit of time, and you can even kite him with some luck.
This game is really fun to play, love those puzzles, my legs are burning, but I guess I'm just too slow for this, the music and SFXs creates some horror atmosphere, the controls are really smooth, well made!
Thanks for playing! Great to hear that you had a good time with it :)
Pretty fun and well thought idea i really enjoyed this one though i think 44 seconds is not enough to solve the puzzles lol, plus i got jumpscared when the reaper caught me, great game dude!
Thanks for checking the game out! You’re right, the 44 seconds isn’t enough to solve all the puzzles - but that’s also the point. The aim is to learn the environment, puzzles, and shortcuts over multiple runs, so that on each retry you have a new objective. Perhaps we could have made that a bit clearer though. Your feedback is appreciated!
Really like this one it's awesome XD
Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed it.
I loved the game, high replayability value. Reminded me of Minit :D
Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it. Minit was 100% a inspiration.
Pretty fun! But I have no idea how I would be able to play this whole game in 44 seconds. I think I must be missing something?
Anyway, I can get the bone to give to the dog, and that's about all I'm able to do before time runs out.
Thanks for giving the game a go!
In terms of playing the whole game in just 44 seconds, that’s sort of true… and sort of not! The goal is to learn a bit more about the game world on each run (where things are located, where you should head next, where shortcuts are) so that you can go faster or skip things when you replay. Sorry if that wasn’t clear, maybe we could have made that a bit more apparent.
I think the term they use in DarkSouls is.... Get good? hahahaha honestly though thank you for playing. I'll give you a hint, do the dog part really fast and keep heading north in the forest till you find a note ;)
This is a great game! These puzzles are really well designed, with some things needing to be completed in one run and others carrying over between runs. I also really like how when your timer runs out, you don't immediately die and still have some time to finish up what your doing (if you can juke death). The opening cutscene was also hilarious. Great work with this game!!
Thanks very much for your kind words! At first, the ability to juke the reaper wasn’t intentional, but it made for more fun gameplay so we left it in. The puzzles too were designed to be kinda like Outer Wilds, where you follow through on new information on subsequent runs.
I really liked the game! It reminded me of the indie game Minit. I enjoyed the visuals, the concept, and the gameplay. The puzzles aren't too difficult, but they feel challenging at first when you're still figuring out where to go and what to do. I think that's a nice balance. Great job!
Thanks for playing! Minit was definitely one of the inspirations for our game (though I myself haven’t played it, but my jam partner has). We tried to strike a good balance between the puzzle complexity and the time available to the player. Glad you enjoyed it!
Great work!I especially liked how the screen's layout work together with the movement system to try and slow you down as much as possible.
(Also shoutout to the narrative, it's pretty funny.)
Thanks for playing! We tried to make it so that the player needed to keep a mental map in their heads, so remembering what’s on each screen is important for timing.
Loved the vibe you went with - the narrative, artwork, audio and gameplay all worked great together to create a tense atmosphere that also fits the theme well!
Thanks for playing our game! Glad you seemed to like it :)
I realize his efforts, but it's just RPG Maker game.
Thanks for checking the game out! But it’s actually not an RPG Maker game - we made this with Godot.
great !
Thank you!
Great little game, fits the theme well! Had fun breaking the curse. :) Good job!
Thanks for playing! Glad to hear you had a good time with the game :)
Hey! After your comment on our game jam (about seeking us out from last year) I had to swing by and see what you made this year too!
I love it! As a fan of Outer Wilds (the best game ever made), I love time loop games where you build up knowledge over multiple runs.
That being said, I think I skipped half of your game :( I brute-forced the pentagram because if my math is correct you only have to make at most 14 attempts, so I thought that was intended (i.e. get there with enough time remaining on enough runs to figure it out). I’m gonna jump back in and see what I missed before I finish rating because I really want to see what else you cooked up!
Before I do that though, I will also say that the art style and framing narrative is super charming, and the movement overall felt good. I got stuck on stuff occasionally because you don’t see it until you get onto that screen, but that might be unavoidable. I would suggest making the walkable areas of the bridges a bit wider though probably. The getting stuck is rarely an issue but with the time pressure each time makes my heart drop haha!
Great job and I will probably reply to or edit this comment with my thoughts after jumping back in!
Edit: Okay, I’m so glad I jumped back in.
Spoilers here
I previously fully skipped using the fish and getting or using the pickaxe. The password for the tree made me laugh out loud.Great game, awesome jam entry!
Thank you so much for playing!
Yeah, we were trying to make a mini version of Outer Wilds mixed with Minit. I still need to actually play Outer Wilds myself, but it's only ever on sale for like 40% off. I'm waiting for that 80% discount before I pull the trigger. 😆
I'm honestly shocked to hear that people are brute-forcing the candle puzzle! I thought having to get past the dog would make it too time-sensitive for anyone to try that.
As for the bridges, I deliberately added them as a tense little challenge because you're constantly racing against the clock. I was actually very close to making that section even longer!
Like with every game jam project, a lot of the feedback people have given us are things we're already aware of. We just needed more time to polish everything and think through some of the design decisions. To be honest, there were times when we weren't even sure we'd have the energy to finish the game since we were both working full-time as well. But I'm really glad we pushed through and got it done.
I'm happy you enjoyed the game! Short Fuse was amazing, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see it make the Top 100. I guess I'll see you again next year. Haha! 😄
Oh my god, you have to play Outer Wilds! Being a frugal gamer is commendable, but it’s Outer Wilds!
I’m impressed that you finished this game to this level of polish despite working full time. I took a day and a half off for the jam, lol
Yeah, I had about 6 seconds or so each time I got to the pentagram, and I think I managed to brute-force it by the second or third time getting there. If you keep track of what you’ve tried for each point in the sequence, it’s 5 to get the first one plus 4 to get the second one, etc., so didn’t seem too daunting. One way you could prevent that would be to make the pentagram lock you out after the first mistake, like explode or crumble or something.
Thanks so much for the high praise for our game! Back at you, honestly, I could absolutely see this one making the top 100.
Don't worry, Outer Wilds is on the list... although I guess I'll have to move it up a few spots now. 😄
Yeah, we took a day off as well, but let's just say my boss wasn't exactly thrilled about it.
Haha, I see the issue now. I was thinking, "There's no way anyone is going to brute-force this, especially if it means having to deal with the dog all over again!"
And thanks for the kind words. I think Short Fuse is your best one yet. I absolutely loved it. Such a clever idea, and it was incredibly polished from start to finish. I'll definitely keep an eye out for it in the next Mark Brown video!
Enjoyable little game! I've seen the concept before, but it really never gets old.
Thanks for giving the game a play! Glad to know you enjoyed it :)
I broke the curse! Great game—very well executed! The sound design is great!
Thanks for playing, congratulations for reaching the end!
We wanted the game to have a good atmosphere, so we made sure to add appropriate ambience sounds (even though it was one of the last things we did, admittedly).
This was excellent!
Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it!
cool Lil game EXCEPT FOR THAT LOSER OF A TREE RIGHT AFTER BREAKING THE ROCKS! I KEEP RUNNING INTO IT THINKING IT WONT GET ME THIS TIME!
Thanks for playing! Better to run into a tree than run into the reaper though!
A bit too spooky for my personal taste, but I have to admit it's well done—you definitely scared me! However, the progression felt a little confusing. I explored two areas, randomly found the exit, clicked a candle, and cleared the game out of nowhere. I feel like the level design could use some polishing so players don't bypass the intended path by accident.
Thanks for giving it a go! Sorry if it felt a bit too spooky, we just wanted there to be a bit of tension with the timer.
I guess randomly inputting the correct solution to the final mystery was always going to be a risk, so I’m not too surprised that you were able to skip a lot of the game. If we ever do something like this again, we’ll make sure to make it harder for players to succeed purely by accident. Thanks for the feedback!
Hang on, were you able to guess what the final code was? what are the odds of that haha.
I think I might have accidentally skipped part of the level. I found one password, but never saw the door for it. I just got the shovel, fed the dog, and solved the candle sequence right behind it. Lighting the candles immediately triggered the ending, so it felt super sudden.
I've been seeing this happen a lot now, didnt think it would be possible haha. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, I think we needed to make it more bulletproof.