itch.io

Thank you! There’s already a menu accessible by pressing Esc. In the browser version, you might need to press it more than once because the first press can get swallowed by the focus handling.

nice job!

I've fixed the screen handling, so the controls should now recover properly in both small and large browser views. If I understood correctly, that was the issue. If not, please let me know!

your welcome!

I'll look into whether I can still update it. A lot of things related to the program were lost earlier.

Thank you!

It looks like you've built a comprehensive system around the development process. The end result feels cohesive and polished. I particularly like the approach you've taken to balancing the game.

Okay, I wasn't expecting this, but there's a lot of content here. This is a pretty solid RTS. I haven't really dug that deep into it yet (I played through 3 campaigns) but it genuinely looks really good. Nice work!

I saw that AI was used to help with several aspects of the development. I'm curious how much of the project was AI-generated, particularly when it comes to things like the code and graphics?

Looks cool, im gonna try it at the weekend

nice job

Thanks again for pointing that out! I’ve fixed the card now.

it was fun :D at the end i didnt know what happened

Oh, thanks! You're right, somehow I didn't notice that. I'll fix the card.

I really like the direction this is going in. A lot has changed, and the whole thing feels much better now!

The interactivity in the inspect section was a great idea. I can almost feel like I'm actually examining the objects.

The haggle mechanic is an interesting concept and adds something to the game. I think it can definitely stay.

I still don't really understand what Ward and Alarm are supposed to do. There could be some kind of hint, tutorial, tooltip, or something to explain them. I can see that the background of the item turns red, but in most cases I don't think anything actually happened besides it becoming ominously red. The Lens is useful, though. I'm glad I can see the percentage chances now the old low/high system wasn't completely clear to me. I still don't understand either the effect or the meaning of the third upgrade.

I really like the idea that I'm uncovering some kind of hidden secrets. It does feel a little strange, though, that basically every object the outsiders bring into my shop somehow relates to the mystery of my shop. :D It almost feels like someone robbed me and is now trying to resell my keys, photos of me, audio recordings, etc.

I also like the change where you receive the money at the end of the day. It gives a nice sense of progression and refreshment: you make your choices for the day, and then suddenly you have money again and a new budget to work with.

The sounds are still pretty minimal, but even so, they improve the experience a lot. I definitely think it's worth spending more time on them.

I think the balance has gotten a bit too forgiving, though. At the moment, except for the first day because you don't have enough money yet, I can basically buy every item without thinking. Nothing really happens besides me getting richer. I tried this four times in a row. On the first and second day, I bought everything I could afford without haggling. Then I bought all the upgrades, and after that I just kept pressing the Buy button. I kept getting more and more money, and eventually everything was mine.

Reputation and Dread now seem to constantly bounce between 0 and 100. I couldn't push either of them to either extreme no matter what I did. I bought everything, bought nothing, haggled for everything, skipped inspecting entirely... no matter what I did, things never really got worse. I couldn't reach either 100 or 0 with either Reputation or Dread. I'm also not sure whether reaching either value actually does anything.

At the same time, I feel like money becomes basically worthless after buying the three upgrades, because there's nothing left to spend it on. Why would I bother haggling once I have all the upgrades and can afford everything anyway?

Something also happened to the icons. I think the old design is broken now. My guess is that you were using some kind of emoji font before, and now it's falling back to the default emoji font instead.

I also don't really understand what the translucent objects at the top in the middle are supposed to represent. I thought I was supposed to search for something and that they would eventually become illuminated or revealed, but they just seem to be decorative at the moment.

I'm also not sure whether buying or not buying certain items has any effect on the story. It seems like inspecting an item now unlocks everything. I tested this by not buying anything and only inspecting the objects, and I still got the true ending.

I think the unlock condition should be tied to actually purchasing the necessary items. Of course, that's probably quite complicated from a balancing perspective, because I assume ominous items are supposed to give you more Dread. But at the moment, I can just look at an item and don't actually have to do anything with it.

There are also a few UI bugs that seem to have appeared. If I buy an item while I'm inspecting it, the item gets replaced with a new one, but the inspect window stays open and still shows the old item. I think the inspect window should close after buying or rejecting an item.

The inspect circles also often become misaligned with the item and end up pointing at the background window behind it instead.

And yeah, I think the emojis have fallen back to the default ones too. The previous version had a much fancier-looking set.

If you can improve the balance and the upgrade system, I think this could become a really great decision-based resource-management game.

this is awesome

I'm really curious to see where this goes, so please let me know if you release an update!

I like the idea, and I think it could use a little more polish. The sounds are really missing. Honestly, I don't mind the AI elements, they're mostly just there to make the background look nicer.

What does bother me is that I don't really understand what I'm doing. It's not very intuitive what's happening or why. With the upgrades, I can mostly only guess what each one is supposed to do. Aside from the Appraiser Lens, I don't really understand the effect of any of the others.

I've survived multiple times and maxed out all the upgrades, so I assume that's a good sign, but I still don't really understand or feel like that was actually the point of the game.

I think it's worth taking it a little deeper and adding more feedback to the player. The daily loop could definitely be engaging, though. You could make each day a bit longer, or give the player more options to investigate the mystery behind a particular object.

You shared the game as an embedded HTML game, and there’s no download option. It also doesn’t work when played directly in the embed.

Hi! The game does not start for me. Using Chrome.

I tried it again, and since the game doesn't give you much of a chance to explore, I ended up giving it another 8–10 tries, because you can die within about 5–10 seconds.

That thing starts chasing you way too quickly and way too early, and I also think it might be chasing you through the walls of the house. When you first open the game, you have just enough time to look around the room, and then boom, it's over. Next run, you manage to figure out that there are two more rooms, and boom, it's over. Then you go outside into the garden, and boom, it's over. Then you try to look around the garden, and boom, it's over. The whole thing feels more like a speedrun than anything else.

By the way, pro tip for new players: if you run diagonally, you move at about 2× speed, so you actually have a chance of outrunning that thing that's chasing you through everything. This time I finally managed to get out alongside the fence, only to realize that this wasn't actually an escape route it was the end of the map. The ground literally ran out from underneath me, and it still kept chasing me even then. 😅

I can see that you've added objects and keys, but you have about 4 seconds to pick them up, which leaves you with maybe another 1–5 seconds to figure out what you're supposed to do with them. On top of that, there's no sound, text, or anything else to tell me what's happening around me. It just suddenly ends every time, accompanied by a scream, of course.

To be honest, I think the game would actually be more interesting if you removed the monster. I'd be able to look around, explore, and figure out why you placed certain things where you did. I think a sort of baby mode without the monster would work really well. Then you could have a normal mode with the monster, where, once you've figured out what you're supposed to do, you can try to speedrun it.

I'm glad you fixed the menu bug, so I don't have to keep restarting the game, which was pretty annoying. However, my PC is still crying for help. Something is seriously not optimized properly.

Nice, thank you! I’ll give it a try.

What a chase! I really enjoyed your video! :D

Hey! I added 2 more color variations, so there are now 840 card backs in the asset pack altogether! 😄

What you’re doing is really exciting! Of course, I’ll make different color variations of the card backs for you! 

It was great watching your video! I feel like I made the game pretty difficult, especially for new players, so I was worried you might not make it to the end. But you were really persistent, and it was great to see! Well done! 😄

By the way, the monster can also wander into rooms, and it will keep chasing you until it loses track of you. It will follow you pretty much everywhere. When the chase music stops, that means it has forgotten about you.

Hiding in a closet makes it forget you much faster, so it’s actually a very useful hiding spot!

Since the item placement and the monster’s movement are randomized, the game can stay pretty tense even when you replay it over and over.

Congratulations again! 🎉

Thank you!

Congratulations! Well done, guys! I’m sorry you didn’t have more time to work on it, but I think there’s a lot of potential there!

Instead of a sword, you could have a hammer that you slam into the ground. It could kill all the spiders around you and stun the monsters, but not kill them.

It could also have a stamina meter. That way, even after you get the gun later on, the hammer would still remain useful.

i should stop

it was good :D

I played through the whole game. It definitely has a bit of a Backrooms vibe.

However, I don't really understand the purpose behind some of the design choices. The energy requirement for the gun feels unnecessary. If you shoot too much, you can literally get stuck and be unable to progress.

I'm also not sure what the switch next to the energy blocks is supposed to do. Nothing seems to happen when I use it.

The enemy at the end is completely silent, and because it's so dark, it's often impossible to see. It also seems to be able to walk through certain walls. It ends up being more irritating than scary, and I don't think it's really necessary in its current form.

One thing I did like is that when I die or get caught by the monster, I keep the energy cells I've already collected. That's good, because at least it makes it possible to eventually finish the game.

I was also hoping for some kind of explanation or clues about what's actually happening around me. The rooms could also lean more heavily into puzzle-solving.

It looks good and promising. I really liked the characters and the visual style. I also like the screen-by-screen movement, it reminds me of old-school games.

However, it feels very unfinished. Throughout the whole game, I had the feeling that I was playing something that wasn't quite complete yet.

I didn't really get a proper combat tutorial, so I was mostly just guessing. The distances don't feel very clear either. Aiming is really difficult, I played through it twice, and I think I only managed to hit something once. Even then, I didn't get any proper feedback to let me know that I'd actually hit the enemy.

I think adding some kind of auto-aim could improve things a lot. The character could always attack or shoot toward the nearest enemy. I think that would make the combat much more enjoyable.

The controls were also quite difficult. A lot of the time, it felt like the character wasn't turning in the direction I was trying to move.

The camera angle also felt off in quite a few places. I often couldn't see what I actually wanted to see.

And the game is very short. I was just starting to get immersed when it suddenly ended.

I often couldn't tell whether something in front of me was on the same level as me or higher up, because everything has almost the same shade. I'm not an expert in this area, but I feel like some more shadows, shading, or variation in tones could really help. The completely uniform gray stone, for example, was particularly confusing to me, because it made the depth and dimensions of the environment disappear.

The atmosphere actually reminded me a lot of the PS1-era Vampire Hunter game. I was almost expecting to find some items to use as well. But then the game ended very quickly.

By the way, did you make the models yourself?

That sword feels pretty useless :D Especially against the spiders. I think it could be buffed a bit so you can safely take down spiders with it, because right now I still end up running away from everything, just with a sword in my hand.

By the end, I was really looking forward to getting a weapon. I was happy when I got the gun, and unlike the sword, it actually felt useful. But before I could really enjoy it, the game was already over.

You could add a few levels where you can make good use of the gun. It doesn't have to be difficult, it would just be nice to finally get that satisfying feeling of being able to shoot things freely.

Overall, I liked it. It felt more like a puzzle game than anything else.

I tried 8 times, but I can barely see anything. I have no idea where I'm supposed to go or what I'm supposed to do. And if I get stuck on something even for a moment, I have to start all over again.

Also, when the ghost catches you, the mouse cursor disappears and you can't navigate the menu.

For some reason, the game also makes my PC work insanely hard.

Awesome, I managed to finish it this time! :D Thanks, I really enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Ah, I didn't notice that! You're right, the objects are accessible now.

I got the library key, and I assumed it was supposed to open the library door (the gray double door), but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Did I miss something, or is it a bug?

Okay, I think not finding the key was probably my fault. I played a few more rounds and managed to find it every time.

However, when the key spawns very low down, almost on the floor, it's basically impossible to pick up. I think it's simply too far below the player's head/camera.

I like it. It looks like the assets were made by hand in Godot, which I really like. It's creative, simple, but effective. I also like the atmosphere.

I feel like some sounds are still missing here too, either from the enemy or just some random ambient noises.

A few times, I had absolutely no idea where the keys had spawned, and I couldn't find them anywhere. I restarted the game several times just to get the first key to spawn somewhere accessible.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the key out of the safe, so I wasn't able to finish the game. :( Even selecting the safe door is already quite difficult, but selecting the key itself feels almost impossible.

It might be worth placing it on a table or somewhere else where it's easier to reach, or perhaps making the safe a bit larger.

Other than that, great work! Let me know if you fix it, or if I'm just being an idiot and there's actually a way to pick up the key. I'd love to play through the whole thing.

One more thing: because of the black background and dark gray text on the itch.io page, I can barely read anything.

I like the atmosphere. It feels like a solid prototype, and I think you'll be able to build some really good things from these core elements.

I felt that some mysterious ambient background sounds or subtle audio effects were missing. It might also be worth adding more variety to the city, different textures for the buildings, for example, because right now it feels a bit too clean and sterile.

Some kind of sky effect would also add a lot to the overall mood.

I really like this style, though.

Thank you!