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A jam submission

Just A Normal GameView game page

A playtest gone wrong... a mystery lost in time. Play as a Red Square that breaks out of the game its held in.
Submitted by Abraxis01 — 16 minutes, 2 seconds before the deadline
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Just A Normal Game's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Innovation#394.0674.067
Theme#2733.6003.600
Overall#3593.4563.456
Gameplay#4713.2673.267
Enjoyment#5263.4003.400
Visuals#5623.5333.533
Audio#8502.8672.867

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

How does the game fit the theme?
It starts out normally and then everything goes wrong. I thought of the theme as sort of ironic because Nothing can go wrong but everything does. The square breaks out of the game and all the endings end with the PC broken in some matter. Nothing can go wrong but everything did.

What code and assets did you not make from scratch during the jam (if any)?
I didn't create some of the icons in the windows screen or the wallpaper, I also didn't create the music or sounds

How many people worked on the game?
1

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Comments

Submitted

Nice game! It reminds me a bit of mine, but with a longer storyline. I was confused about what to do when begging, maybe you should add hints for the player when they get stuck. There is other feedback:

1) The controls are very hard and you should tune them - no coyote time, you can easily fall off the platform.  

2) Why can I click on the game folder on the main screen and it restarts and resets all progress T_T

3) The cipher part is overwhelming. When I see 5 different notes, a browser with 5 tabs, I just don't want to do anything because it's very hard to understand what the next step is. Maybe adding a progress bar that tells you what to do next would be good. I am not a fan of these things where the player has to think carefully about what to do next (like in Outer Wilds), I prefer when the game gives you instant feedback.

Still, very solid attempt! Also +1 for the phonk ;)

Submitted

Damn. thats honestly one of the better games in this jam and it needs more attention, its a shame i just found it out today and not earlier so more people could find this lol

only criticism ive got is the last code, i couldnt figure out what im supposed to do with it, i had to look for it here in the comments lol (i think if you maybe added another code that reverses the string it wouldve been better) and the jumpscare at the end kinda made me jump lmao

Genuinly one of the better games of this jam! you should post more in the community tab so you get more votes and people notice your game more!

Submitted

JUMPSCARE ALERT, JUMPSCARE ALERT, JUMPSCARE ALERT and it's a shame you didn't put a warning anywhere. We're not in a "horror-themed" jam, we don't expect anything like that, and it can be a very, very unpleasant surprise when you tease a mystery and just throw a stupid jumpscare in our faces as only explanation. And yes, you mention some "face with static" and the logs are more and more scared, but I just thought it was part of the mystery.

Ok, now, I calm down, and I proceed to write the *real* review, without that f-ing ending xD.

I really enjoyed the base idea of a character that escapes its game and wander into Windows ^^. The log idea is great, and like the logic of the puzzle (but I feel like I skipped some steps, because I never used the C# code  or log 4, I just entered the data in the browser things and it got me the code that I mirrored). 

The interactions with the Windows elements are top-notch: mixing "Windows" and platforming is a really neat idea. The "paint" part is genius, the "chat" part is really nice, and overall, I liked to use the logs as platforms and elevators =p.

The graphics, sound design and general ambiance is really good and very polished. The story is also very engaging, even if I would have liked a real ending with an explanation about this mysterious file (I expected a twist like "we are helping a virus escaping quarantine without knowing it" =p) (Note: I closed my browser the second you-know-what happened, so maybe I missed something after).

Overall, this is a very solid entry and I enjoyed playing it! And I'm honestly impressed you did all that alone and in one week, so congratulations ^^! Keep up the good work =).

Submitted

I dont know what clues were and how to use the other stuff so I was just stuck on the desktop but I had fun reaching there as well, great idea for a game. Totally unique.

Also give me some hints what to do so that I can reach that hidden folder

Please play and rate my game as well, thanks!

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for playing the game and I'll make sure to play yours as well. The puzzle might be a bit hard, so heres a guide, there are 5 logs placed within the screen. One of them is in the paint app, 2 in the files app, one in the messages app, and one in the main desktop screen, jump on top of these logs and press e to interact with them. Follow the hints on the logs and use the programs provided in the browser app to solve the puzzle. Place the code in log 1 into the cipher and specify the shift number, put the code from that cipher into the next tab, put the number you get into the next tab, then mirror it. After you get the code go into the hidden folder and interact with the log in the middle.

Submitted (1 edit)

I am sorry but can you provide the mirror of this please, Sorry I am just dumb :(

E1r0m3M-M3M

Developer

Yea no problem, its just M3M-M3m0r1E, just reverse the word.

Submitted

Yup finally finished it, great game!

Submitted

Cool concept, really enjoyed it!

Submitted

cool idea for a game! I really enjoyed the beginning, but after getting to the desktop. I couldn't figure out the code with whatever I did

Developer

Thanks for playing the game! If you want heres a guide to help solve the puzzle, there are 5 logs placed within the screen. One of them is in the paint app, 2 in the files app, one in the messages app, and one in the main desktop screen, jump on top of these logs and press e to interact with them. Follow the hints on the logs and use the programs provided in the browser app to solve the puzzle. Solution: Place the code in log 1 into the cipher and specify the shift number, put the code from that cipher into the next tab, put the number you get into the next tab, then mirror it. After you get the code go into the folder and interact with the log in the middle.

Submitted

Amazing game! Loved the first fourth wall break and the puzzles afterward. I overthought mirror one and tried to put the word itself in the code, but it was easier than I thought :D

P.S. I love playing these types of games, if you like them too, you can check similar type of game on my page (it is not for this hackathon) - there you need to use real social networks to solve the puzzles (I hope these weren't deleted because of being inactive :D)

Submitted

Super original idea. I love your game. Unfortunately, I interacted with the ‘Normal Game’ folder and… spoiler alert…

Anyway, congrats on the fantastic entry to the jam!

Developer

Thanks for playing! Yea, it might have been too much to make the user restart if they enter the game files again

Submitted

rated!

Submitted

Cute game! I like the fourth  wall break. literally

Submitted

Interesting game!

The only thing i have to say is the movement feels floaty, and the fact you get stuck to walls when you run against them. If you want to fix this (we have some time to fix bugs) you can make the player have a physic material with a friction of 0, and same for the walls ^^

Submitted

I loved how you could use the programs on the sindows screen as a parkour, very creative! The jumping felt a little floaty though due to the acceleration mid-air, but all around nice submission!

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! I really enjoyed your game as well