Love the idea that you can "time travel" using the radio! Also that most things have something to say makes it feel like its not a bad thing to try and click on everything :) I would say that the flashlight does not give enough light. maybe it works that you always see a bit instead of 100% black or have a bigger beam. now combined with the very fast moving camera it was not super easy to explore. It did really feel solid and also love the artstyle that it all looks a bit like an older video game combined with the setting/ music this works very good! i would maybe also suggest to use a better font, the font of the text does not match the rest of the game maybe like cursive or typewriter kind of font (thats still easy to read)? So it fits the style a bit more. Also the text saying what things are feels a bit to low or far away from where i clicked. But other then that really cool! and i saw some youtube review/ plays in the comments very nice you got those :D
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In The Mind's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #68 | 3.844 | 3.844 |
| Game Design | #150 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Overall | #183 | 3.656 | 3.656 |
| Theme | #260 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Innovation | #291 | 3.489 | 3.489 |
| Fun | #362 | 3.422 | 3.422 |
| Graphics | #431 | 3.578 | 3.578 |
Ranked from 45 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
In what way does your game fit the theme?
There's a way to travel between two time periods which is called the "rewind" ability. This is the main mechanic of the game besides exploration.
Did you write most of the code yourself and made all the assets from scratch?
Yes, I wrote all of the code and made all models myself. I got textures and music from free sources and personalized them to fit the style.
Comments
The overall atmosphere of the game was very well done! I wasn't sure if I'd be met with a jump scare or something lurking in the dark throughout the gameplay. Well done on the audio!
I wish there were more puzzles like the first one, since I wasn't sure what to do after picking up tools on the second rewind, so I was searching on something to use on / find a use for them for a while.
Overall, very immersive game and hope to see you continue!
Very good! Perfect starting point for a more complex game.
Besides mouse speed and darkness already mentioned, once I get stuck between the first door and the chair next to it.
I like the choice of paintings, they really make the game more creepy!
Spooky to say the least! Loved the pinhole view or tunnel vision effect. Nice effort for this jam! Interesting take on the theme.
Could you please play and rate my game as well?
I don't really like horror games, but this was fun! I like how you used rewind even though it was a bit confusing why it was even happening, and I like how this is so different than any submission I've played so far! My only problems are the 2 that people have mentioned before so I wont get into much detail (too sensitive and too dark). Great job!
i liked how u implemented the rewind theme on this one, this could be a really good horror game mechanic. the whole house atmosphere with those textures, paintings and long paths made me a little bit nervious.
the music on the first room was a really clever thing to add because when leaving it makes u feel kinda by urself. The narrative was very good too. maybe would have liked a little bit more usage of the rewind mechanic on some puzzles like the first one but its fine. and maybe it was a little bit too dark?? i know it was the theme but the lantern didnt grant much vision either so sometimes i was on the absolute dark but idk that could be just me.... overall it is a very clever concept i really think u could exapnd more on this one good job!
Here are some of my opinions based on my experience playing this game:
Mouse moves kind of fast, maybe you should add a mouse speed option in the pause menu?
I love the style of the abandonded house taking place in the pitch-black night. I also like how the theme stays consistant throughout the whole game.
The game really does a great job giving the player the sense of dread, especially with a blood trail leading to an unknown horror, and the long dark hallway that gets darker the farther down you travel. I was really preparing for some sort of jumpscare as I was going down those paths.
I was really hooked on the story aspect, along with the feeling of solving a mystery of what this place is, who is this woman, and what happened to this woman?
I was kind of hoping for another puzzle in the second rewinding section instead of just picking up a tool and being done, especially with how cleverly designed the first puzzle was. Perhaps you could have done something where you need to get an assortment of tools in a certain order to open the broken door (with a plot twist of it being the order of tools used to torture and kill the woman)?
This might be kind of a nit-pick, but I'm not sure if I was a fan of the sparks effect of the time traveling objects. The game has a dark horror theme to it with grimey and rusted objects everywhere, and the bright cartoonish sparks kind of takes away from the immersion a bit. Perhaps something like a red and black smoke-like aura coming off of the objects would be more fitting for a dark environment?
I'm hoping you can expand upon this story in the future. It's not too often that you get to see a mystery-horror game that doesn't consist of cheap jumpscares.
Thanks so much for your detailed feedback! I agree with every single point you brought up. I'll be sure to fix the major issues like lack of mouse sensitivity options once the jam is over.
Due to time constraints I had to scrap a lot of content like extra rewind puzzles unfortunately. I love your tools puzzle idea, especially since it would add extra depth into the backstory.
There are quite some people asking for a full game or a sequel of sorts so I'll have a good think about that. Creating this game was a lot of fun and it was my first dive into the horror/thriller/mystery genre so thanks for your kind words.
Played this with headphones and it did not disappoint.... Audio and game design were spot on and I really like how the theme was central to the gameplay loop. Everything contributed really well to the immersion. My two pieces of feedback:
1. The controls were rather sensitive. It did make my character look like a terrified mess at times (suddenly looking behind him XD) but I think maybe this could be tweaked?
2. Some parts were rather dark (getting the tools for example) and meant it was a bit tricky to see. I realise the design choice behind this, so perhaps making the torch (I think that lighting was from a torch) more powerful would help?
Overall I really enjoyed it! :)
Yo’ Templar here,
Very good game, the atmosphere and the pacing is great.
A few things to point out would be:
- The mouse sensitivity is really high, at least in the web version, it makes it hard to point and click.
- Is too dark, even for a horror game there’s a balance to achieve between too bright that removes the mystery atmosphere, and too dark where you can’t even see anything to explore and be creep out by the environment. this is difficult to achieve and is done with trial and error for every game.
Scary stuff jezus. Good job on the game mate :) I liked how you get pulled into the story and how you unravel the mechanic. Very innovative mechanic too. I like the attention to details and your knack for creeping me out :P
Maybe one little constructive feedback would have been to make it a little brighter in some places.
I presume you are also from Belgium? Anyways, good job and please try my game too ^^
Hey, I really love a lot of things done on this game. Here to share my thoughts on it :
1) The rewind mechanic, while simple in nature - I think it blends well with the game feel. The rewind dimension reveals puzzle solutions, and at one time - a very scary world. And as a result, the normal world feels more 'safer'. Given enough time, you should explore this design philosophy to create some interesting pacing in horror games - where you alternate between a safe world, and a dangerous world - and you could juxtapose that somewhere in the game. Love it!
2) The music and atmosphere. I am seriously bad at jump scares so thank god this is not a jump scare game. The oldies radio in the first room helped me settle in a bit, while all the gruesome detail around contrasts that well. I think you missed the opportunity of playing the music in reverse when you're in the rewind world (or maybe you did and I missed it - thinking it was normal..). Despite its simple graphics, I think you did well on setting the mood with the limited FOV, slow movement and gradual reveal of plot details.
I have a few thoughts on other things you can keep in mind, some of these are subjective:
1) Mouse sensitivity, understandably there are limited time to implement an options menu - I don't have one myself in my game. But the problems become glaringly obvious when playing a first-person game like this as small movements cause huge sweeping motions. Consider an in-game mouse sensitivity option - maybe.
2) There was one time when the game froze shortly after starting the game. No big deal - just restarted the game. I almost thought it was intentional design (you know, going with the game title of it might just be in my mind.. idk). Haha - considering exploring that.
3) Small polish details such as making the artwork upside down in the rewind dimension - I think it's such a small detail, but can add a lot to the atmosphere from an artistic perspective. And also, do you know that we can't actually properly read words or read the time when we're dreaming - you could draw that parallel to when you're in the mind (in the rewind dimension?) to how to decorate the rewind dimension.
I probably messed up a lot of the supposed story didnt I.
4) The last room needs more guidance - I typically search from left to right, so when I was hugging the wall on left side, I saw the 'couch' from behind and activated it without realising what it did. I think for such a crucial scene, maybe just a bit of light - to show 'couch' at least? Consider that.
5) The line of sight (or circle.. thing) might be too small - it becomes almost difficult to try to navigate through places. This comes from an absolute horror rookie though. I think if you want to keep the typical low line of sight - maybe you can add on top a flashlight with limited batteries so it still forces players under the low LOS to conserve batteries - and always keeps them tense.
I know it looks like theres more cons than pros but you know how human psychology goes - we remember the bad things more than the good things. With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed your game and you can take my word for that. It's such an enjoyable short experience and I had to take one for the team and play a horror game for once. You've checked some boxes of a good horror element so keep it up!
Loving it - hope to see more from you!
Wow, thanks for your in-depth review, I really appreciate that! It's interesting how everyone has a different take on the story that's being told and what's actually happening when using the rewind ability.
I love your constructive feedback and I'll definitely be using it for my next games. Even a game jam entry needs some options like mouse sensitivity and brightness. :)
Thanks for playing!
I'm a really big fan of these types of graphics, i love the atmosphere that you were able to build in this game, it really gave me sense of unease playing it (that's how effective it was for me), a really short game but really worth playing, it got me looking around everywhere despite feeling scared, also had a problem with the mouse sensitivity as it gave me more anxiety where one small move of the mouse would have me look on the other side far too quickly, but overall really nice game, i still enjoyed playing through it, the music made all the difference and the ending was truly intriguing
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