Play game
DETOUR's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Devlog | #1 | n/a | n/a |
| Theme | #3 | 3.150 | 3.150 |
| Gameplay / Fun / Engagement | #15 | 2.525 | 2.525 |
| Overall | #18 | 2.519 | 2.519 |
| Art Style / Visuals | #32 | 2.325 | 2.325 |
| Audio / Sound Design | #41 | 2.075 | 2.075 |
Ranked from 40 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game interpret and use the theme?
DETOUR interprets THE LONG WAY HOME as a constant tradeoff between distance and danger.
The player is trying to get home with limited fuel and a fragile car. At each junction, they must choose between a short, rough route that saves fuel but increases the risk of wrecking, or a longer, safer detour that consumes more of their remaining fuel.
There is no perfect route. The journey home is shaped by the risks the player chooses to take.
Devlog Challenge?
Devlog link
https://ryanpond.itch.io/detour/devlog
Easter Egg Challenge?
Did you use Farclip and want to be considered for the Farclip Award? (optional)
Game Engine?
Game Engine / Tools (Other)?
Audacity, VS Code
Self-made & used stuff?
Have you joined a game jam before?
Roughly how much time did you spend developing? (in hours)
27
Anything else you'd like to share about your game or development process?
DETOUR was built solo in Godot over 7 days. I focused heavily on keeping the scope small and making one core tradeoff, fuel versus danger, matter throughout the entire game.
All in-game visuals were created from simple shapes and Godot's 2D lighting tools. Sound effects were sourced from appropriately licensed libraries and edited/mixed in Audacity. I used AI as a coding/debugging assistant during development, while writing, integrating, testing, and balancing the game myself.
I also kept a daily devlog documenting the process, mistakes, and design changes along the way.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
An excellent game that fits the theme perfectly! I really liked your interpretation of it, and Iād say it captures the essence of āThe Long Way Homeā beautifully.
The art, despite being simple, is fantastic. I especially liked the dynamic lighting, which, combined with the nighttime setting, gives the game a lot of charm. It really captures the feeling of driving through the night, particularly thanks to the way you designed the environment and obstacles.
It would be great to see a bit more variety along the long route, at least in terms of what we see in the environment. I donāt think youād even need to add new obstacles; I feel like a few small environmental details would be enough. Maybe random events happening along the roadside, like someone hitchhiking or a broken-down car? It could even be a great opportunity to include some Easter eggs!
A fuel indicator would also be a great addition, along with indicators showing how far youāve traveled versus how much distance remains, as well as your vehicleās health. These are all important pieces of information that players need to make the best decisions.
Your devlog is also fantastic! I really liked how well-organized and informative it is. I also appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts after playing other games from this jam, which undoubtedly made your overall experience much more valuable.
Congratulations on the project, and best of luck in the jam!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback! Really glad the lighting and atmosphere landed for you. That was one of the things I spent a lot of time experimenting with, so itās been cool seeing how many people connected with it.
I completely agree about the environmental variety. I think I was so focused on keeping the scope manageable that I underestimated how much a few small roadside details could do for the experience. The hitchhiker and broken-down car ideas are great examples. They wouldnāt necessarily need to affect gameplay to make the world feel more alive.
And youāre absolutely right about the HUD. Youāre actually the second person today to mention that information, and itās been a recurring theme throughout the feedback. Especially since the whole game revolves around making informed decisions about fuel and damage!
Really appreciate you taking the time to read the devlog too! Best of luck on the jam.
Nice. Simple to play and understand. It would be nice if there were stats at the top of the screen that showed remaining fuel, remaining distance and number of crashes/lives left. Otherwise, a solid submission and good interpretation of the theme :)
Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it!
Youāre definitely onto something with the HUD. A few people have mentioned wanting better visibility into fuel, damage, and remaining distance, and I think thatās one of the clearest takeaways from the feedback.
I was trying to keep the interface minimal, but I think I took that a little too far. Especially when the entire game is about weighing the risks of each route. Players need that information to make meaningful decisions!
Really appreciate you playing and sharing your thoughts!
Nice, it reminds me of the old car games for phones back in the day. :)
Haha I love that comparison! Thereās something about those old phone games where the mechanics were simple but you could spend hours playing.
this is actually a really simple game, yet it feels really polished!
but for me the game got quite hard for me when i played it, even when i try going through detour ( probably skill issue haha )
overall a really good game
Thank you! And honestly, probably not just a skill issue haha.
Iām curious though. What was giving you the most trouble? Keeping the car on the road, avoiding damage, managing fuel, etc.?
The detours are supposed to be the safer / more relaxed option, so if those still felt pretty difficult thatās actually really useful feedback for me.
Nice entry!
Choosing between a risky shortcut and the (long) safe road is a very fitting idea for the theme, I really like that the whole game is built around exactly that decision!
The lighting with the headlights in the dark looks really nice, I fell in love with the dynamic lighting here!
Overall everything works, but for me it got a bit boring after a while, maybe due to lack of music (?) The gameplay is quite simple and not much happens on the road. Some small events or things passing by could make a drive feel different and give you more reasons to actually think about which way to take.
Visually the simple shapes are fine, but a bit more detail would help with that too.
Audio is the part I'd work on the most: there's no music at all, and the driving sound got a bit annoying after some time :/ A calm night drive track, or even a little radio you can switch on, would fit this perfectly, and some more variation in the engine sound would already change a lot. The core idea is really strong though, with some more content and sound this could be a really cool little road trip game! :)
Thanks! The radio idea is actually really interesting. I hadnāt thought about treating the music as something in the car rather than just background music, and that feels way more fitting for this.
I also like your point about things passing by on the road. I was trying to keep the decision between shortcut/detour as the main thing youāre thinking about, but I can definitely see how the safe stretches especially need something happening so they donāt just become waiting for the next choice.
Iām curious. If there were a radio, would you want it mostly as chill background music, or would little radio interruptions/weather reports/news/etc. make the drive more interesting for you?
Thanks for the detailed feedback :)
For me a radio with actual reports/news and music would be incredibly funny tbh :D Like a "real" radio.
Like ridiculous weather forecasts and news segments? That could be a lot of fun to implement.
Good Job ! love the minimalistic visual with the small lighting around your car make it very nice .
Love the decision making sometime after doing a shortcut ill jsut take a detour to relax a little bit XD
Good job !
Thanks! Iām glad the lighting and route choices landed for you. The ātake the long way just to relax a bitā comment actually fits the vibe I was going for really well. Appreciate you playing!
WOAH, SOMETIMES THE LONG WAY HOME IS THE ONE THAT TESTS YOU MOST! ššš£ļø
I really like how DETOUR turns the jam theme into an actual gameplay decision instead of just making the journey longer. Choosing between saving fuel on a dangerous shortcut or taking the safer road creates a simple idea with genuine tension. The limited visibility, atmospheric lighting, and shadows also give the minimalist visuals a distinctive style you can feel how vulnerable you are out there with a fragile car and a long way to go!
One thing that could make this even stronger is making both routes feel equally tempting, with clearer junction warnings and a visible fuel gauge so every decision feels meaningful rather than rushed. A little more roadside variety and some changing engine sounds or radio music could also make those longer stretches feel less repetitive. š¦š¶
A SMALL IDEA WITH A STRONG FOUNDATION! šš Building this solo in Godot while keeping the scope focused is something to be proud of. I especially appreciate how the theme shapes the core mechanic. Best of luck with the jam, Ryan hope that car makes it home! š”āØ
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Iām glad the shortcut vs safer route decision came through clearly. I agree that clearer junction warnings, stronger fuel feedback, and more roadside/audio variety would make the longer stretches feel better. Really appreciate you taking the time to dig into it.
Iām really bad at the games that require dexterity and quick reaction, so I didnāt last very long. But I do appreciate the idea and the style, especially visual and sound effects.
Totally fair haha, it can get pretty twitchy. Thanks for giving it a shot anyway! Glad you liked the idea, visuals, and sound effects.
Hey!
Simple, well-polished game. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I like how the obstacles light up brighter when you get too close.
For me, the shorter way was the way. I didn't feel compelled to take the longer one.
Thanks for playing! Glad the lighting and obstacle readability worked for you.
The shortcut/detour balance is really useful feedback. The intent was for the short route to save fuel but put the car at much higher risk, while the longer route was supposed to be the safer choice when the car was already damaged. If the shortcut still felt like the obvious choice every time, then that tradeoff clearly needs more tuning.
Appreciate you calling that out!
Cool idea! I like the limited view from the light, and the choice between easy long and hard short route.
The easy long route got a bit boring though, especially with no distance marker to anchor me to where I was going, or fuel gauge to build tension. It would have been nice to know much much longer to go for each section. I also didnāt realize that green was fuel until I read the devlog.
Fun to play, and the tension building after I inevitably hit a few things was great!
Thanks for the feedback! Iām glad the lighting, route choice, and damage tension worked for you.
The long-route pacing is fair criticism. I wanted the safer road to cost you time and fuel, but without enough scenery/events or a stronger sense of progress, that can turn into waiting rather than an interesting tradeoff.
The fuel pickup note is really useful too. If you had to read the devlog to know what it was, then I clearly didnāt communicate that well enough in-game.
I also like the idea of giving a clearer sense of how much farther each section has to go. Appreciate you playing!
A simple game, but was really good man.
The art are great, good manage with the ligth and the obstacles.
The audio sound was good, a little empty to a long travel, maybe like an extra you could add a radio button to put son diferent music on the road, but is and idea i get while playing x3
Was very funny to play and complete, relaxing, challenging some parts very well done with this entry, good job.
Thanks for playing! Iām glad the lighting, obstacles, and overall drive worked for you.
I really like the radio idea too. A little station/music toggle would fit the road-trip feel really well and help fill out the longer stretches without needing constant music.
Appreciate the feedback!
Simple but a good foundation
In terms of gameplay, it was fairly simple. There really isn't much to comment on here. I thought there needed to more varied obstacles/challenges, as right now the gameplay is pretty repetitive after a while, and in addition to this I found the difficulty of the rough/risky paths to be extremely over tuned, mainly due to the slipperiness of the car making it hard to control easily. I think the foundation is great, it simply needs some more content to build off of.
Visuals were good for what they were, but pretty barebones. I really liked the lighting, that was really pleasant to see. However the appearance of the actual game components were really barebones, typically just one solid color, which looked a bit boring. I can understand making a bunch of high quality sprites can be time consuming, so something to do to compensate is to add random props to the side of the road (ex. Trees, Bins, Lamps, Benches, etc.) which would make the world feel more complete.
Audio was very barebones, and what was here was pretty repetitive. Adding a simple background track would go a long way here.
Theme use was very good! I thought the idea of having to pass a long distance, with a risk/reward element to get their quicker was a great concept, and it had a solid execution here. Very well done, this was probably the strongest aspect of the game.
Overall, while pretty simple, what is here is still pretty enjoyable!
Thanks for the detailed feedback! I think your read on the game is pretty fair.
The repetition and lack of environmental variety are definitely two of the biggest things Iād want to address in a larger version. More obstacle types, roadside props, scenery, and generally more things happening along the drive would help a lot.
The rough-route difficulty is interesting feedback too. I wanted those sections to feel noticeably more dangerous, but I can definitely see how the combination of dense obstacles and the carās loose/slippery handling can push that too far.
Audio is another area Iāve heard pretty consistently needs more work. Music/ambience and more variation in the car sounds would go a long way.
Iām really glad the core risk/reward idea and theme landed for you, though. That was the main thing I wanted to prove with the jam build. Thanks for taking the time to write all this!
It was really fun game, it's really addictive (you just wanna keep playing even if you lose again and again). Visuals look really nice but can be improved, and i think sound is repetitive and bit annoying, chill background music would be better I guess. Overall, it's really fun to play, amazing work!
Thanks! Iām really glad it made you want to keep playing. Thatās probably the nicest thing I could hear about the gameplay.
And yeah, the audio feedback is definitely becoming a pattern. A few people have mentioned the engine getting repetitive, so some quieter ambience/music plus more variation in the car sounds would probably go a long way.
Appreciate you playing and leaving feedback!
I like the lighting and shadows, and the car physics feel nice too!
One thing I noticed is that the engine sound stays pretty similar most of the time. Maybe adding a little sound variation when turning, like a slight pitch change or some tire sound, could make it feel more lively.
Thanks! Iām glad the lighting and car feel worked for you.
The engine variation is a good call too. A few people have mentioned that the audio feels a little static, and I think changing the engine pitch under steering/load and adding some tire noise would make the car feel a lot more alive without needing a huge audio system.
Appreciate you playing and taking the time to leave feedback!
Fun concept! The car physics work really well at this speed, though I wish there were a button to speed up. Good work!
Thanks. This is the second instance of feedback about speed controls. I never even considered it while developing, but Iāll certainly think about it if I expand this game.
Thanks for playing and commenting!
This was a nice concept and a really good interpretation of the theme. I liked the fact that you had taken the theme and integrated a risk/reward mechanic in the gameplay which felt organic. Some suggestion on the gamplay - The steering felt good, but i think there could have been some control on the speed of the car which could have added a bit more control to dodging the obstacles. Especially for the shorter route it felt realy difficult to dodge some of the closesly placed obstacles. I like the simple UI, makes the game look very clean, but maybe you could add something which indicates hits to the car or hits left before restarting. The overall art is also very clean, and the shadows for the obstacles look cool. The car sprite could be improved I feel. I liked how the fuel pickup was very clearly differentiated from the obstacles. Audio wise, maybe some variation in the engine rumble while turning/ screeching brakes would have added some dynamism. Overall I had fun playing it, well done :)
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Iām glad the route tradeoff, steering, and overall theme worked for you.
The speed-control suggestion is genuinely interesting. Youāre actually the first person whoās brought that up, and I hadnāt really considered it because āall gas, no brakesā was a deliberate part of the design from the beginning. But thinking about it now, giving the player some control over speed could be a really elegant way to handle difficulty, especially on the denser shortcut sections, without just reducing obstacles or widening every gap.
That one definitely has me reconsidering the choice.
I also really like the audio suggestions. More variation in the engine, tire squeal, and stronger impact/road sounds would have added a lot of character. And yeah, the car sprite/art pass definitely had more room to grow.
I was trying to communicate health through the carās visible damage instead of a normal health bar, so Iām glad that part came across at least somewhat. Appreciate you taking the time to write all this!
Nice game! Even though itās small, you can really see the progress youāve made. The art style and music work really well together, and the controls feel consistent too. Great job! :)
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that.
I learned a lot making DETOUR, especially with the lighting, audio, and controller feel, so itās great to hear those parts came through.
Thanks for playing!
Gameplay / Fun / Engagement: āāāā
Art Style / Visuals: āāā
Audio: āāā
Theme: āāāāā
The route choice idea is really nice. Having to decide between a safer road and a shorter risky one while watching your fuel actually makes the theme part of the gameplay. 5/5 for theme from me.
Driving feels good too. I liked that damage is shown on the car instead of just giving you a normal health bar. Gameplay is a solid 4/5 for me.
The visuals work but I think this is the part that could improve the most. The lighting looks nice but a lot of the world is still made from very basic shapes. Replacing some of those with actual roadside objects or simple assets would make the whole drive feel much more interesting. Art is around 3/5 for me.
Audio is also a 3. The car sound does its job but I think some quiet music and more environmental sounds could add a lot. Wind or rain or just some background ambience would make the road feel less empty.
Good game though :) The main idea works really well. With a better visual pass and more audio I think it could feel much more complete.
If you have some time please check out my game too! Id really appreciate a rating and some feedback :)
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Iām really glad the route-choice/fuel tradeoff and damage-on-the-car approach landed. Those were two of the main things I wanted the game to communicate.
I agree on the presentation side too. The lighting got a decent pass, but a lot of the roadside/world art stayed much more placeholder than I wanted, and the audio definitely needed more ambience and variety.
Appreciate you taking the time to play and write all this. Iāll check out your game too!
You've got a good start here, and I enjoyed reading your dev log. Keeping yourself on a short leash in terms of scope is one of the hardest things to nail in a gamejam, but you did it.
I managed to get home on my first try without hitting anything. The controls are tight and it feels good to steer. I didn't feel like I had enough time to choose which route to take, it comes at you at the exact same speed as every other obstacle, and its difficxult to read both options in time, and I ended up just randomly picking one more times than not. I'd consider adding a couple seconds warning icon to tell you when a junction is approaching, to give the player time to make an informed decision.
On a similar note, the fuel guage not appearing until you are running low on fuel seems a curious decision - it means I can't make an informed choice on my direction as I have no idea how much fuel I have left. I didn't run out of fuel when I played, but if I had chosen the longer route before the fuel guage warning appeared, that would have felt unfair. So maybe just show it all the time? Just things to consider.
The single straight road is a little tedious, it would be nice to implement some curves in a future iteration, or just a bit more visual variety - maybe some other cars sharing the road that drive at different speeds, some you overtake, some overtaking you?
The engine sound droning continuously is not very nice, it could do with either music or just make the engine quieter, maybe.
The visuals are basic but that's fine for now, i can easily imagine this with better sprites for the various things you already put in, and I appreciate that getting the mechanics feeling good first without fancy visuals is the best decision you can make when starting out a new project.
Good work overall!
Thanks for the detailed feedback. This is really helpful.
The junction timing is definitely fair. I wanted a longer approach/selection window with clearer feedback before the choice locked in, but that was one of the things I didnāt get fully finished before the deadline.
The fuel gauge point is especially useful because it was actually supposed to appear again when approaching route choices, specifically so you could compare your remaining range against the two routes. If that wasnāt happening reliably, then thatās something I missed.
I agree on the road variety and audio too. Curves, traffic, roadside scenery, and a better soundscape would go a long way toward breaking up the straight-road repetition.
Really glad the handling and core decision-making worked for you, though. Thanks for taking the time to write all this. And for reading the devlog!
I really like the concept of this, giving players a choice on how they play is a great idea :)
Despite the lack of actual assets, the art style was really cool. If the red square was replaced and the car had slightly more detail it would look like a very polished game made only with shapes. The gameplay was also pretty fun and the difficulty seemed fair. Overall great game :D
Thanks! Iām glad the route-choice concept and difficulty worked for you. The red-box obstacles definitely ended up much closer to placeholder art than I wanted, so I agree that replacing those and giving the car a little more visual detail would help a lot.
Really appreciate you playing!