Thanks for playing!

This was my first real attempt at a PS1 style game so I’m happy you liked it!

Yeah the movement has been kinda divisive and frankly I can see both sides. I think it feels more like you’re underwater like you say, but it does also make parts of the game genuinely tedious I’ve found on repeat playthroughs. I don’t think I’ll make the player super fast, but the movement will at least be getting a second look post-jam. I’m definitely happy to hear you found it immersive though!

So there is only one ending but multiple were originally planned, specifically the player keeping the blood pearl and then being converted by Neptune. I decided to cut it because in every other jam game I made with multiple endings they ended up being too tedious to replay. So I decided to play it safe and focus on making the first playthrough as good as possible.

In hindsight I probably should have made the game pause while talking to the ghosts, that was just a scope thing and I didn’t wanna risk the game not resuming afterwards.

I mentioned the cause of the wall clipping glitch in a few other comments, but yeah they aren’t supposed to do that. There are no secret passages sadly.

To be honest when I was making this game I was thinking “if the biggest complaint is it’s not long enough then that’s the best case scenario”. I knew I didn’t have time to make a long game, and didn’t want to risk the game wearing out its welcome. The combat as you saw isn’t that in-depth and there’s only so long the atmosphere could realistically be kept up. I don’t regret keeping it short, but I’m 100% happy to hear you wanted more!

Thanks again for playing and the feedback!

Thanks for playing!

Yeah I'm incredibly happy with how the atmosphere turned out, but also the combat turned out pretty pithy so sorry about that.

I'll make sure to check out the video! Thanks again for the feedback!

Thanks for playing!

The second level I did make much more quickly than the first lol. It was originally intended to have enemies and a lot more decorations than it ended up having. I’m happy the furnishings in the first level made it feel less empty though, I intentionally started making the level a couple days before end of jam so I could add more detail.

I’m really happy with how the offerings turned out so I’m glad to hear you liked them! The talking to the dead in Pathways always struck me as a better way of doing audio logs, I just wish I had more time to implement a proper conversation system like it.

Yeah the movement is definitely getting a second look post-jam, I’m glad it wasn’t too much of a hindrance for you.

The non-interactable cabinets was definitely an oversight, I was going to add them in as an openable object but of course the model has nothing on the inside. And I elected not to remove them as the level felt more empty without them. In hindsight I should have just put another table or sink in their place. You mentioned finding the non-interactable ones first, did you not open the first locker seen next to the start of the game? I may have to make that interaction more obvious.

The combat is another big shortcoming. It was an obvious issue even during development. Especially with the AI moving onto the same tile as the player rather than the tile NEXT to the player. I decided to focus on the other areas of the game to polish up, as I figured the game would probably be better having simple combat with a strong atmosphere rather than decent combat but a boring world. Definitely something to improve on for post-jam update and next year. I’ll be looking into pain animations for enemies in the post-jam update.

Thanks again for playing and for all the feedback!

Thanks for playing!

Good to hear you enjoyed the atmosphere and tension, I spent a lot of time in audacity so I’m happy it paid off! The siren songs I got from some free sample pack and just added reverb and distortion to make it sound underwater. A simple effect but really happy with how it turned out!

Yeah the combat and AI will be getting some love post-jam. I am curious though, you say the speargun never hit anything? It’s technically the most damaging weapon in the game and can kill the zombies in 2 hits. Do you mean it didn’t seem to damage enemies, or just that it fired too slowly?

Thanks again for playing and all the feedback!

Thanks for playing!

Yeah the atmosphere I tried to weave into every aspect of the game. Initially it was intended to be just an atmospheric dungeon crawler and not a horror dungeon crawler. Hence the lack of true jump scares.

I’m glad to hear the movement and combat largely worked for you! I still plan to adjust it post-jam since it was an issue for a number of players.

The visual consistency I honestly have to applaud the creators of the various asset packs for. I used about a dozen of them in this game and nothing jumps out as being obviously not a PS1 looking visual. And I’m happy you liked the Easter eggs, I always enjoy hiding them around. I think this is my third game to feature the game boxes of my previous projects lol. Also it’s awesome you liked the length of the game, I knew I wouldn’t have time for a long game so tried to fit everything into a couple quick levels. In hindsight I absolutely think it was the right call.

Thanks again for playing and all the kind feedback!

Now that I think about it I’m pretty sure I noticed that bug but forgot to fix it lol.

Thanks for playing!

Huh that’s weird, I’ve tried doing that so many times during development and it never worked. Maybe it only happens if you press them simultaneously, anyways I’ll check it out, thanks for letting me know!

Thanks for playing!

I’m happy to hear you liked the atmosphere, because I built every part of the game with the intent to enhance it. There are a few little visuals I’d like to improve but I’m happy with it overall, I can’t say I’ve made too many games using a dozen asset packs that looks this consistent. The killer whale is a shark actually! I only wish I had time to make an actual death animation for the mermaid enemies.

Yeah the original idea was to have multiple floors of the shipwreck be explorable, but obviously that didn’t happen. I decided to go short but sweet with a smaller scope rather than burn myself out on a larger game.

Similar thing happened with the combat, I knew it had issues days before the deadline but decided to focus on the atmosphere and polish in other areas (i.e. the atmosphere) instead.

Thanks again for playing and leaving the feedback!

Thanks for playing, and the feedback!

I put a lot of my effort into the atmosphere of the game so I'm glad you liked it!

Yeah the combat doesn't have nearly enough feedback. I basically had a choice later in the jam of improving the combat or improving the rest of the game and I chose the latter. I definitely plan to update that post-jam. The rifle does do damage, but the blood puff that spawns when you hit an enemy flows out from the enemy model, and since the shark moves so fast it effectively obscures the particle effect.

Thanks so much for playing and the feedback!

This was my first attempt at a PS1 style game, and my first attempt at something spooky in several years so I'm happy you liked it! The enemies for the most part came together better than I expected, though I wish I had more time to work on the model for the mermaid enemies. I did put a lot of time into the sound effects and ensuring they were distinct, creepy and sounded like they were travelling through water in a PS1 game lol. The glowing eyes I had thought of not only because they're creepy, but they also allow the player to see enemies in the distance. I wanted the player to find the enemies eerie, but not because they suddenly jump out of nowhere (well except for the shark I guess lol).

I'm definitely gonna be looking at adjusting the movement speed post-jam. I think it can work for when the player is actually progressing and encountering enemies, because I find it builds tension more than if the player zooms through the level. But it is clearly tedious when having to backtrack or get through the second level. I'm happy to hear the underwater effects worked, during development I was kinda worried it would feel like the player was just in a dark warehouse or field.

That's surprising actually, every other player I've seen so far has said the combat felt unresponsive, which I tend to agree with. But hey I'm happy you liked it! Regarding the AI yeah this was technically my second time using A* navigation, but I was never able to get the enemy attacks right. I'll have to try your suggestion after the jam, during development I decided to leave the AI broken so I could focus on every other aspect, which I think in hindsight was the right decision!

So the "audio logs" are technically the dead speaking to the player character directly. The distortions are effectively ghosts, or mentioned in the game's description as "anomalies",  which speak in that distorted whisper which is then decoded by the players fancy hydrophone. I took the idea from Bungie's old FPS Pathways Into Darkness, where you can actually talk to dead characters by entering keywords. I wanted to trim down the scope and decided to just have the dead talk to the player once, and the player can't speak back. I wanted to have a bigger ending, but in hindsight I think the current one is more fitting for cosmic horror.

It's kinda funny to say now but I actually didn't really intend this to be a horror game, it was more intended to be a dungeon crawler with an eerie environment. I was more inspired by the Metro series and Space Hulk: Vengeance of The Blood Angels than I was Resident Evil or even Silent Hill. But I'm really happy you enjoyed it and thanks for the kind words!

Thanks again for playing and the feedback!

Hey thanks for playing and the feedback!

Yeah the movement is definitely something I'm looking into post-jam. I think it works quite well when the player is progressing and facing enemies, but is annoying when backtracking or walking through the second level. Initially it was even slower because the player was going to be in like an armoured diving suit, since the game was pretty heavily inspired by the Space Hulk: Vengeance of The Blood Angels PS1 game. I left it a bit slower partly because, as you said, it's underwater and also it wouldn't be as scary if the player could move like Doomguy. That being said, I could probably speed it up at least a little.

I'm glad you liked the crunchiness! As I was working on it I kept thinking, well this sounds and looks like a creepy PS1 game to me but will players like it or just find it annoying? Because I had never done a PS1 style game before, and I wanted it to look and feel like something that could've existed on PS1. The field of body bags is probably the area I found the eeriest too, like even when making the level it gave off the feeling that one of them is going to move. I love them as they serve as storytelling, a creepy visual, and fill in an otherwise empty area. Regarding the enemies I actually didn't really intend for there to be any big jumpscares in the game. I actually intended it to be more of an eerie shooter in the vein of the Metro series, or Space Hulk. I actually wanted to do more with the environmental storytelling and have the Children carry around the goggles of dead divers as trophies, which was partly alluded to with the goggle on a spear in the hallway leading into the first encounter.

You're totally right about the combat feedback. I only added a particle effect for like a puff of blood coming off the enemies when hit, which is hard to see since it's blue (except for the shark), and since enemies keep moving otward the player it can be obscured by the enemy model. There's also a stabbing sound effect that plays when a hit lands, but it turned out to be too subtle. I'll be addressing that post-jam with hit animations, more obvious particle effects and actual pain sounds. I knew the feedback was an issue days before I submitted, but I decided to spend the time building the atmosphere and the levels rather than the combat. Because I figured this game would either be spooky and immersive with mediocre combat, or bland with decent combat. And last year I focused too much on player and NPC mechanics to the point I never got beyond finishing a single small tutorial level, so I definitely wanted to avoid that!

Thanks again so much for playing adn taking the time to leave feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for playing and the feedback!

I’m happy the effort on the audio and atmosphere side showed, because I spent a lot of time trying to make everything look and sound like it was underwater lol.

The combat absolutely needs to be addressed, the AI is supposed to stop on the tile next to the player, but instead moves to the same tile. That and the relatively feeble hit feedback were known issues as I was developing the game, but I decided to double down on the other elements rather than have decent combat but a boring environment.

The movement speed is definitely something I’ll be looking into. I didn’t want it to be too fast partly because it helped the tension, but also I didn’t want players to unintentionally slam face first into an enemy. The queueing moves is a good idea though, one I actually had thought of implementing but just decided I didn’t have time for it.

The talking dead I’m quite happy with, the audio I thought was creepy but wasn’t sure if players would just dismiss it as “cheap” or weird. And I tried to keep the writing in the Lovecraft vein without overdoing it, I’m happy to hear it was successful!

Thanks so much again for playing and commenting!

Thanks for playing! Sorry I missed the stream but thanks for the timestamp, I’ll check it out after work!

Thanks for playing my game so quickly after you promised to! Almost makes me feel lazy for only getting through a few entries so far lol.

While I apologize for the anxiety I do also take it as an achievement my game was able to induce it! Strong atmosphere was the number one thing I wanted and it’s been awesome seeing how many people like it!

Thanks again for playing and the feedback!

Thanks for playing!

Sorry to hear the shark got ya, did you manage to make it to the end? I sadly didn’t have time to implement checkpoints or saving.

Tbh I probably shouldn’t have slowed the animations down so much but it looked good enough at the time lol.

I’m really happy to hear the atmosphere was good. I worked on building it up every way I could so it’s nice to know that paid off!