Interesting game, I liked the atmosphere, it gave a good spooky feel to the game. I would have suggested letting the drill thing do damage to you rather than just push you, because at one point I got stuck between it and some of the arcade machines and it wouldn't get off me, even while using the flashlight, and I was stuck till it clipped me through the wall and I died. Some of the jumping was a bit difficult, I think that was due to the momentum, and a few platforms were imo too far apart to make the jump consistently, but I appreciate what you were going for. The last thing is idk if it was intended or not, but even when I got to the end of a level, I had to wait for the goggle gauge to completely run out before the next level loaded, so I found myself just pacing looking for what to do till that happened and the next level loaded. Regardless, good job :)
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Shadow Stepper's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #438 | 3.258 | 3.258 |
| Innovation | #635 | 2.839 | 2.839 |
| Graphics | #664 | 3.097 | 3.097 |
| Audio | #706 | 2.742 | 2.742 |
| Overall | #712 | 2.855 | 2.855 |
| Game Design | #869 | 2.645 | 2.645 |
| Fun | #889 | 2.548 | 2.548 |
Ranked from 31 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does you game fit the theme?
You think you are in an arcade but the path is an illusion, the true path can only be seen with special goggles.
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
All functionality is through UE4 Blueprints from scratch. The arcade cabinets and wall/floor/ceiling textures were imported.
Comments
From the state of the project I assume it's one of the first games you made?!
I get the general premise you are going for. A surreal abounded arcade is quite the appealing setting.
Unfortunately there were a few things that really gave me a hard time.
(Please don't take this as me dunking on you but as genuine advice how I feel you could improve your game).
You goggles didn't look like googles so I passed them several times without recognizing that the ball is the item I'm looking for. If you don't have the artistic abilities (which is no shame at all) then you should use some layer of abstraction like maybe get a box asset and slap a "special goggles" sign on it.
Picking up the goggles was another issue. I picked them up at one point but didn't recognize it. A sound effect or a message "you found the goggles" would have helped enormously.
I also barely noticed that the goggles were active. A solution could have been to tint the screen in a certain color when they are active so it's immediately clear to the player.
The jumping passages were not well balance.
While the first one were super little steps that let me overshoot with a basic jump the second passage had jumps so tight I could barely make them. In fact I had to quit the game here because I fell and the reset didn't trigger correctly and I was stuck down there.
In general I would consider your game more as an "immersive experience" than a challenging platformer so I would have designed the jumps to be more on the easier to execute side.
The sound design was nice and fitting for your setting.
In the end you delivered a playable experience which not everyone can say of themselves in a game jam, so good job and keep on building games!
I loved the idea! Very immersive game :)
Would you mind checking out my game?
https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1418165
I really like the way you handled the theme. Using goggles to reveal the path is very cool. The arcade themed environment reminds me of the latest FNAF game. As for the feedback I think that putting anything (even red rectangle that ressembles a door) at the end of the platformer section to indicade that it's not the end would be much apprecieded. Other than that It's a very well-made game. Keep it up!
If you have a minute, please check my game too :)
Thank you very much for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. And yes the fact that there was no visual cue at the end of each level to signal traveling to the next level was completely accidental it was something that was overlooked due to time constraints in the end, this will be fixed immediately post-jam. Thank you so much again for the feedback and for playing! I will check out your game right now if I have not already! :)
Liked the idea.
Had some trouble finding the googles and the platform was really difficult
Thank you so much for the feedback! Yes the fact that the goggles are still a sphere does not make them very intuitive. Going to make an actual goggles mesh for them and make it an interaction to grab them instead of just an overlap. Also the platforms and level design are going to be altered heavily we just had to stick to something simple for now due to time constraints, you are definitely correct on that and I apologize for the difficulty. Thank you again for such great feedback and for playing! I will check out your game now if I have not already! :)
I really enjoyed this unreal arcade. I like that it was made in Unreal too! I'm also an "Unreal" developer.
I attempted to cross the gorge several times without the goggles. It took me a while to find those goggles, and then longer to realize they were goggles. Once I did though I was off and running.
Great game. Love the atmosphere. Keep up the good work.
So awesome to see another UE4 dev, it seems every game I have played has been made with Unity it's almost mind blowing haha. You are the first other UE4 dev I have come across this jam. Love to see it. I'm glad you enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. I am so sorry about the un-intuitiveness of the goggles haha sorry you had to try crossing without them. We will definitely make it more intuitive that the goggles need to be acquired first. And also yes we need to make them look like goggles as well haha. These things will be done immediately post-jam. Thank you so much again for the feedback and for playing! I will make sure to check out your game right now! :)
Thank you so much for the compliments and the feedback! Very kind. Glad you soaked up the vibes and had a good time with the game. We will definitely keep working on the game post-jam so stay tuned everybody! I will check out your game now if I have not already. Thanks again for the feedback and for playing! :)
I enjoyed it. All the decisions worked towards giving you a sense of urgency, including the enemy that keeps chasing you and the fact that you have a time limit to see the real platforms. It made sure I was always rushing towards the exit.
The graphics are actually very nice and work towards the atmosphere. Even the cone enemy adds to the otherworldlyness of the setting, oddly.
I wasn't entirely on board you having to find the goggles again after finding them in one level, but I guess it could work well in more levels. What I didn't enjoy was having to restart the level entry cutscene every time I died, I wish it would only play once.
Also, I fell during level 2 and didn't die, I had to wait there and watch the cone attack me. I think having a level reset button would help!
Good entry! Well done!
Thank you very much for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed the atmosphere and idea of the game. Definitely needs some tweaking as we were crunched for time in the end and had to slap a couple things that were unfinished together. I may re-think having to find the goggles each time I like that it makes you explore the starting area though that is the main goal of that. We definitely will be making it so the cutscene only plays once and then the text will keep coming up subsequent times but you can move while it is there instead of having to wait, in case you need to see it again. And yes, the level 2 issue was a silly mistake due to not having enough time to check everything one final time thoroughly, the triggerbox just needs to be moved over a little (you can still trigger it if you walk towards the right wall if you fall down). Thank you again for the feedback and for playing! I will check your game out now if I have not already :)
Cool game idea! I have seen that it has some rough areas. Like a cone is the enemy but i can understand it was due to time limits. I got a bit frustrated with the game restarting with the cutscene every time when i died. The atmosphere is very great, Cool lightning ! The flashlight felt a bit odd for me.The sound in the background was great, but the jump was a bit odd . Overal a great experience! Rated!
Thank you so much for the feedback! Yes the cone was simply due to time limits could not prepare a mesh for him in time. We will definitely be changing the cut scene mechanic as multiple people have pointed that out, thank you for that. We agree you should only see it once or at least be able to move while its on the screen the other times. The flashlight also needs fixing it was something I didn't have time to finish, it only successfully attacks the enemy on the initial flick on I could not figure out how to keep my line/ray cast continuously firing while the flashlight is on in time unfortunately but I will by the next update. Also the jump sound will be changed as well as we agree it does not fit with the vibe of the game. Thank you so much again for the feedback and for playing, I will check out your game now if I have not already! :)
Neat game! I haven't seen a game like this yet, though I will say the jump sound effect takes away from the spooky vibe a ton. Also, whenever i fell on the second level I wouldn't die and I would be stuck below the floor, so some sort of reset button would be good!
Yes! Thank you so much for the feedback Nova. We talked about this and we definitely agree with you about the jump sound it does not fit with the spooky vibe at all it sounds more like a ninja slash or something haha. It was a last minute addition as well. But thank you so much for pointing that out. The issue with not dying on the second level when falling is simply because we had so much going on at once that I forgot to move the triggerbox over to the left a little more as it is still where the level 1 hallway is. Both of these will be fixed in the next update of the game once the jam ends. Thanks again for the feedback and for playing, I will check out your game now if I have not already!
I love the creepy arcade setting, and I'd say this is one of the smoothest-implemented first-person games I've played in this jam. The colors and aesthetics are great. But I did run into some frustrations--the enemy cone thing pinned me in a corner at one point and I couldn't get out, and the combination of unexpected deaths and having to play the intro dialogue on every respawn got tiresome.
Thank you so much for the helpful feedback! Those are actually 2 things that weren't just due to time constraints so I am so glad to hear about this. I completely overlooked the thought of if you keep dying having to see and wait for that same text every time is boring, agreed. Also I did not run into the issue with the cone pinning me into a corner in testing so I'm glad you identified that as well so I can fix that. Were you able to still flash him to make him go away though when he had you in the corner? Or would it not hit? Again thank you for the awesome feedback and for playing! I will check your game out shortly if I have not already :)
Cool little game. One thing I would change is that I would make it so that you don't have to repeat the dialogue every time because it can get very annoying.
Rated !!! would you kindly rate mine too!?, I'd really appreciate it if you do, Thanks!
here's mine: https://itch.io/jam/brackeys-7/rate/1415313
There's just something scary about a cone chasing and pushing you, I got an "it" vibe (one of my favorite movies) from this game, the music is on point and you nailed the theme. When I was on the second floor, after falling down from the platforms the game didn't restart, I had to walk back to the beginning and try again. This was a great horror game, excellent work, I loved it!
That is funny that you mentioned "it" I feel the same vibe when I play it hahaha. Honestly, the cone was left as the mesh as we didn't have time in the end to implement a nicer one with animations but now I am considering keeping the cone and making him a little scarier lol instead of a wood floor material on him. Glad you enjoyed the music as well. And yes, unfortunately due to a silly mistake of copying coordinates while in a rush at the end to implement those triggers under the floors, I forgot to move the one on level 2 over to the left as the hallway on that level is moved to the left compared to the others so the trigger is only halfway there, will get this fixed immediately and an updated version of the game will be released after the jam ends. Thank you so much for the feedback and for continuing to play through despite the bugs, it is much appreciated and glad you enjoyed it as well!
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