Post by SVDE BLK in Hollow Rock jam comments

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[specs]

[overall]

beautifully rendered LiDAR environment, unique mechanics, worth investing time/effort in. Empty Shell vibes (huge compliment). would play full game.

[first impressions]

well i’m just in love with the vibes here. opening terminal/monochrome amber coloration is a good visual hook, the manual realtime readout is engaging, and the world you’re dropped into is spectacular in its simplicity.

[intro]

not skippable (negative)
while i enjoyed the intro real-time readout the first time, by the third i was a little tired of waiting. i always rec’d implementing a skip function (with confirmation), and a replay intro button in the menu.

[audio]

love a dynamic SFX, no bland repetition here. all things that i feel should make sound do. nice atmospheric soundbed. could maybe do with some more music, but it does help the dreadful environment to not have any sound except sudden SFX.

[art/visuals]

[customization/accessibility]

in-game immersive tutorials via dialogue/object interaction & persistent on-screen instructions/controls (plus)
no settings or pause menu (negative)
itch’s on-page viewport is totally busted, making it very hard to see/navigate certain elements. breaks the normal screen, so had to play zoomed out in-browser, which was interfered with due to the in-game zoom settings. no fullscreen setting.

[gameplay/handling/controls]

LiDAR games are hard to manage playability, but this does it well. the draw/erase mechanic made the unforgiving natural settings easier to handle
great object interaction/environments in general
shift to run, WASD native (plus)
on-screen keyboard typing with mouse is a little janky, would prefer to be able to take over with actual keyboard when focus is on terminal.
scroll to change item way too fast/glitchy for comfort and way too sensitive for a mac mouse, SFX for this thus became very annoying