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Godot Version
4.7.2
Theme Interpretation
The character is searching for an unknown SOS signal. As well, the character uses signals to their submarine to perform certain actions.
Wildcards Used
Left Wildcard
The first wildcard (description pending)
Middle Wildcard
The second wildcard (description pending)
Right Wildcard
The third wildcard (description pending)
Source
https://github.com/jablonskibrandan/GodotWild98
Discord Username(s)
YFTechno, HipRhombus, derik.7, CashBrandicoot, zonewright_studios
GWJ Participation Level
New team, various experience.
Team Size
5
Generative AI Disclosure
I confirm that this jam entry does not contain any AI-generated content
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Comments
Came across this from your post on Instagram an just had to check it out. Surprising amount of depth (both literally and in terms of the mechanics) and content from a jam game and an insane level of polish, well done
thanks for playing! that’s definitely a post i didn’t expect many people besides my immediate family to see 😅.
Nice submission! I like that the theme played a role in the mechanics, though more would be better. I may have missed the part in the tutorial that said the light would reveal secret passage ways. Since that was such a critical part of the game, I would have liked to have had a clear example ahead of time. I also found the control scheme unintuitive, and felt like I was fighting it to do what I wanted. The level design was good, had a nice progression, while also allowing for different strategies to dominate in each one.
Good work to the team!
Pretty nice game, the tutorial text was a bit hard to read though.
Solid game. Very nice work!
thanks for playing :)
Solid use of wildcards! Relying on bubbles for life and having it gradually deteriorate encouraged me to strategize which was super fun (e.g. sometimes bolting it and sacrificing a hit if it meant getting a key).
Each of the various tools were useful throughout the levels too. Sometimes I felt like I could skip out on a sneaky puzzle completely by using the mine, without too much penalty due to the 30s cooldown. Maybe there could be a limited number of mines the player could pick up during a level, similar to keys, to prevent overuse?
Overall, awesome job combining several mechanics + enemy variants, as they worked really well thematically and gameplay-wise. A large amount of depth with the time you had, and I had a great time :)
Amazing game. I just found it hard to tell the difference between walls and hidden passagways. Since you had quite a large team, I think the audio could be better too.
Very interesting game. I like the enemy variety.
Cool game! It's very polished.
I like everything, art, music, mechanics, and level design.
Maybe just the text of the tutorial is a bit difficult to read.
Good job!
I was going to say how I enjoyed it but then I saw that you, CashBrandicoot, who has worked on it! **joking ** I really loved the flow of the game. It made me think of a lot of the 90s games I played as a kid. I felt like there was enough freedom to walk around and enough threats to avoid and overcome through gameplay. It was a world I wanted to be in. It wasn’t confusing to adapt and move through the intended path.
I haven’t listed any negatives in other jam devs’ posts but since I know you I will, haha. Only because I don’t know a better solution. - I didn’t bother reading the white tutorial text, it was too small to read and I just kept moving on. I know it is important to display it for players and a pop up/pause is more annoying than using the method you did. And it felt clean development wise. I liked the way it felt/ looked to be honest. I just like to think of how I would overcome something and I think with game development somethings you just have to decide what you want to commit to and do the best you can.
Really good jam, one of the best I’ve played tonight, congrats team!
This felt like a really solid and complete jam build. I played for around 15 minutes and didn’t run into any bugs or technical problems, and the core exploration/stealth loop kept me engaged.
I especially liked how several of the tools create tradeoffs. The flashlight helps reveal hidden passages, but using it can also expose you to enemies. The decoy gives you a way to redirect enemies, and the mine gives you another option when avoiding them isn’t practical. Those systems work together well.
The oxygen system also adds useful pressure to exploration. Having it drain over time, lose additional bubbles when you’re hit, and then letting the player replenish it throughout the level gave me another thing to think about while searching for keys and hidden routes.
Presentation-wise, the underwater ambience worked well. The music stayed in the background and never became annoying, and the water sounds helped sell the setting. A couple of effects felt noticeably louder than the rest of the mix on my end. Particularly some enemy alert/attack sounds and the key pickup. So I’d probably give those another balancing pass.
My biggest criticism is that, while everything worked well, the overall design felt fairly familiar. Keys, hidden passages, oxygen management, enemy distractions and stealth all functioned properly, but I kept waiting for one of those systems to evolve into something that really changed how I approached the game. The foundation is strong; I’d be interested to see what happens if one of those mechanics gets pushed further.
Overall, a stable, cohesive jam game with a good amount of actual gameplay here.
thank you, it’s not often that you put out something for a jam and get such a detail response! The constructive criticism is extremely welcome, and we hope you enjoyed the game!
We were really working on the game until literally the last minute, but I agree, we definitely could have taken the mechanics a bit further.
Absolutely. I really enjoyed it. Getting something this cohesive out of a jam while you’re still pushing fixes right up to the deadline is an accomplishment on its own.
The mechanics that are already there work well together, which is why I kept thinking about what another layer or two could do for the game. It feels like there’s a lot of room to build on the foundation if you ever come back to it.
Thank you so much for the deep response! It's great to get this feedback.
I was the one who worked on most of the level design, and I do think it could have been better in a few areas. We were trying to squash more bugs than push the level design. And believe me, we had a few problematic bugs.
I'd love to take another crack after thinking more deeply about the mechanics and how to push them further, but I think the best way to do that would be to add more scope, which our team just couldn't handle in this game. Maybe in the future, we can revisit it. I know I had a bunch of mechanics that I also wanted to add, that also did more to push the balancing act (one was a 'tongue' grabbing action, that we actually got the art for, but didn't get coded in time); but would require more assisting parts as well.
But that's part of the jam experience, no? Trying to manage the scope, learn about your team (since our teams have never worked together before), and get experience making something new and fun.
I appreciate your response, and thank you for playing!
That makes a lot of sense. If the choice was between polishing the level design further or spending that time keeping the build from falling apart, I think you made the right call. The level still communicated the mechanics clearly enough that I could see what you were going for.
The tongue mechanic actually sounds like exactly the kind of addition I was imagining. Not just another ability, but something that could create another tradeoff depending on how it interacts with oxygen, enemies, keys, hazards, etc.
And yeah, that’s absolutely part of the jam experience. Scope is hard enough with one person, let alone a team that hasn’t worked together before. Getting something complete, learning how everyone works, and coming away with ideas you’d want to explore further is a pretty good outcome.
Thanks again for making it. I had a good time with it.