Very good game, I really enjoyed playing it. The starting area was clearly identifiable which really helps me navigate its maze-like structure, the areas looked and felt unique, and the oxygen was well-placed. I find the game very hard and that's 100% a compliment. Each year I hope I'll find a game where I need to break out a map, this might be game for that this year.
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Zero Atmospheres's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall fun and playability | #6 | 4.138 | 4.138 |
Ranked from 29 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme incorporation
Sinking ship: You are on a spaceship that's been destroyed, and you have limited oxygen as you try and escape!
Comments
Absolutely valid – the original concept involved more features which involved antagonists and more tactics (was gonna have scary robots who you could throw into space or away from you with well timed gravity switches), but I realised that the length I could create a polished product with every feature (textlessly) tutorialized and executed on whilst keeping to the 15-30min game time I wanted for maximum accessibility… So it got left on the cutting room floor. Its a shame because I wanted to reuse elements of this animation from an unfinished pico8 project: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?pid=159985&tkey=nR95ntMnNWV6Uhi4V3Th
I appreciate that the oxygen leaking putting a timer on puzzles and the single source of environmental damage is toeing the line of what counts as a DC for the purposes of the jam – I know we discussed this in the discord. I’m already planning next year’s entry and I’m going to make it combat focused to make up for it!!
204 days ago(+1)
Ah, I’m sorry you managed to find an out-of-bounds glitch! There is some bugginess where people can interact with elements they’re not directly facing. I do the “are you facing an object” code with vectors and dot products, when a simple ray would both have been easier, less buggy, and would be prevented you from being able to interact with objects through walls! Oh well, we live and we learn!
I used godot, but did not use any of the Godot physics, instead building all the movement logic from scratch – something I’m very used to doing with my experience with PICO-8 which gives you nothing out the box! The advantage to building things from scratch is that they work exactly how you want them to!
What would you want to know from a post mortem? I’d be happy to write one, but I don’t know what people would care about?
I feel you and Godot is a very nice choice too! I also like to build stuff from scratch even tho using Godot as a framework for all the stuff that is boring to build and you just want to start building a game and not an engine ;)
Well what I’m particular interested in is, is like how do you build the map, plan out the puzzles, like how did you map out all the possible gravity changes, that would be quite a challenge to get it right. And furthermore how did you get the “grid controller -> Player” be able to work in all 3 dimensions so nicely. Did you use some form of grid based movement or “just” position snapping with animations in between and some raycast checks if the player is able to move in one specific direction?
204 days ago(+1)
Oh, and the game does let you continue from your last oxygen tank, so if you wanted you will be able to restart, and select “continue” from the main menu, and lose almost no progress! You’re so close to the end, I’d love you to experience it
Okay I played were I was left ofd and it un-stuck me, which was very nice. Then I tried to solve the level but got stuck as I had some trouble with the orientation and where to go or what to do. But still loving the gravity flip mechanics. I guess with a little more orientational help, like a 3d map (little cube built out of smaller cubes from the actual near-by surroundings in one edge of the view) it could add to the sense of space! :)
Hi wolfheat,
It was interesting in playtesting how players found the space very easy to navigate – one even told me to make it harder – whilst since release I’ve been a real mix of those who navigate easily and those who get disorientated quickly! I think this really comes down to how well people can visualise 3d spaces in their heads without the ability to free look, which seems to be something some people can do without trouble and other’s struggle with.
My desire to create an accessible entry did mean that a lot of the puzzles are brute-strength-able, and can sometimes be solved without intentionality. It was an intentional decision that every puzzle you will eventually solve if you just keep doing something. I understand that the game loses out in something there, but I think there’s a place for a game that everyone can complete (even if it takes some people a lot longer than others!!)
Thanks for playing
/Kai
Well someone mentioned there being a gravity change game in this years jam, and I guess this is it. I remember 2022 winner game Labyrinth which is based on that principle and I didn't have any trouble navigating that game. Maybe I'm just getting old, who knows. I Usually have good spatial abilities, but then I do have bad memory...
206 days ago (+1)
Thanks so much for your help throughout the jam – I don’t know if Godot 4.4.1 actually helped at all, but I’m glad you encouraged me to do it anyway even if it was just a 5% speed boost on mobile!
Don’t forget to leave a rating!
206 days ago(+1)
Having jammed in the past, and having played a bunch of Jam games, it was a very intentional decision to have a short game but one which I could be confident that every single section was well polished and as fun/engaging as I could make it.
The result of that is a game that feels short, but I’d rather keep them wanting more than have them get bored and Alt-F4 half way through!
Thanks for playing, the stream was a lot of fun!
206 days ago(+1)
Hi, thanks for your kind words.
I don’t know if you’re in the discord, but I put a lot of effort into the level design – both at the detail level and at the structural level.
I did the first pass of each of the main rooms separately, and once I was happy with them, I worked out a flow diagram with how I wanted everything to interconnect, and played through the game in my head about what order things should come, and where I could put the keys to allow different branches whilst still ensuring each possible branch was still engaging.
It was only after a handful of attempts where I was happy with it, I tried to figure out how that flow could work as a 3d space, which was kind mind bending as I was figuring out how all these 3d spaces interconnected with each other!
I’m really glad I put this effort in, and it’s clear it’s being appreciated it! I also think it was healthy for me to think so deeply about the project away from the screen, in a nice cafe.
Once I then put the rooms in the right place, I then expanded/modified/edited them to fit properly, and created the handful of new rooms and content I needed in my plan in the spaces left between the already made scenes!
Thanks for playing
/Kai
Yep, gotta have grid movement in a dungeon crawler jam!
That said, I did turn on free movement at the very end to get the screenshots, and it actually felt really off. I put a lot of effort making sure everything felt good on the grid, so as soon as you could run around like an FPS everything felt too big and too hollow and too boxy!
Thanks so much for your kind words!
/Kai
206 days ago(+1)
I put almost everything I wanted into the game, the only two things left on my TODO list at the end of the jam was “Credits screen” and “Punch Chicken”!
Thanks for playing twice to find all the content!
Super fair feedback! I feel what you mean, I’d have loved to put an extra “thing” in, but I made the tactical choice to have something polished but leave ’em wanting more, than something bloated or unpolished.
I did my best to design the puzzles without the need of free-look, to keep the jam’s dungeon crawler roots. I think for the most part, I succeeded, with maybe the one section out in space which is a lot of leaps of faith!
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