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octopus (oubliette #5)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #82 | 4.385 | 4.385 |
| Overall | #223 | 3.872 | 3.872 |
| Originality | #260 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Fun | #636 | 3.462 | 3.462 |
Ranked from 39 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
Many elements of the game are outside of the player's control! You're not the hero of the story, just a curious octopus. The game is full of machines that constantly dump trash out into the environment; the heaps of trash very quickly get "out of control." The waterlogged robot does many things you can't control. You automatically grab things: this is out of your control (lightly inspired by the way an octopus is theorized to not have detailed conscious control over their tentacles?). Finally, there is sort of an element of the design that's out of my control; the world is littered with small puzzles that are different every time as a result of the nature of chaos. I don't have full control over your experience.
Did your team create the art for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
We created all art during the game jam
Did your team create the audio for this game during the 48 hour time slot?
We used pre-existing audio
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Comments
hi everyone! thank you very much for playing my game! (and hopefully rating it! i wanna be a jam winner!!!)
i haven't played all of your games, although i meant to -- it's kind of a hassle to switch into windows, so my game-playing habits have really taken a hit.
i hope that you all enjoyed this little underwater world.
The game had a calming vibe to it yet the music also gave it a hint of urgency. I assumed it had something to do with the trashbags but I couldn't figure out how to stop them especially since they tended to block pathways :( The art was done really well and I definitely hope you expand on this game, especially with that grab mechanic.
being honest, i probably won't expand on this game, primarily because i am a great fool who has no capacity to work on making things better, only making new things exist... i do plan to build on top of a lot of the things i've learned, but who knows what form that will take.
thank you very much for your kind comments and for giving my game a try :) i think the calming vibe + a hint of urgency is something i find really valuable myself although i only realized it today, and i like that you pointed it out.
The art is very cute.
thank you :)
Not sure what the goal is, don't think there is one and that's ok. I enjoyed moving the little octopus around :)
there is a goal, but it is not really telegraphed because i felt like spending time in the world was more important. i feel like if someone is really looking for a goal it's not too hard to find, and if you're happy with there not being a goal then not finding it is totally ok :)
Wow I've never felt so relaxed and out of control of the environment! Really solid submission!
thanks <3 i'm proud of the independent life the environment has, so i'm v glad the theme came through for you in this way!
it has soul (i like it)
!!!
a good way of putting it. (i like your comment)
Wonderful music and lovely characters! Probably the game of the jam I spent most time with.
thank you very much <3 i have been struggling with making characters for a while now, as well as with making long games that feel worthwhile (and not padded) so this is really heartening to hear. if you're interested in more music by the same artist, i found his soundcloud and a lot of it is quite nice!
I really liked this. Went through a lot of emotions! Took me a lot of restarts but I finally managed to repair Quo-- I mean, the robot! He was pretty mean to me, but all was forgiven when I found him again and saw him propelling himself upwards.
haha! tbh, i've been thinking all week i should have made him only shoot you once before realizing you're harmless, but deadline and no playtesting! alas. i guess it's fine though, the robot tells a particular story and adds to the out-of-control-ness, i think ^^
This might be one of my favorite submissions so far. This is dripping with such a strong "vibe." Everything comes together to feel so very unique and palpable. It was a blast just to float around in the world.
Yes! Thank you very much. The music really helped a lot with the vibe - the moment I found and added the music, it really helped capture a feeling along with all the systems and pushed me in a direction towards where the design ended up going.
I'll be honest, this game has been creeping in an out of my mind over the past week. So much so, that when I went to participate in another game jam this past weekend, I ended up finding a perfect track by the same artist. I really helped me capture and evoke the atmosphere I was hoping for. The game was https://bokonon-yossarian.itch.io/flotsam
I'll have to try it sometime in the next few days! Booting into windows is a bit of a hump but I'll do it for you!
Wow! Thanks so much for your reply. I really need to look into exporting for HTML5 as well.
That's a surprising games. I enjoyed fiddling with its physics, but I'm still not sure if I discovered everything. I helped the drowning guy (that I'm tempted to call "Quote" ^^), but he ended up leaving somewhere without me. I've been able to use Exit A, but not exit B or C. Maybe the robot could help for one of them, but everytime he just go away out of water where I can't reach it. A lot of coins and places also become quickly unreachable after garbages are piling up.
But it's a very interesting world to explore. I really ike the concept of a level evolving with time (independantly of the player actions or presence), and a lot of "events" based purely on physics. Plus the grabbing mechanics, while capricious, is fun to learn and master. Overall it was really pleasant to wander several time in this world and experimenting with some of its puzzles! :)
(your temptation is well-deserved)
Thank you for saying all this, I'm glad it came across. I know that it feels a little strange/unnatural to have so much of the game live beyond your reach - but I am very pleased you experimented several times over and explored!
Gorgeous.
Wow that was a really nice experience. I really like how the octopus move, how it grab things very naturally, the music, etc.. it all fit together to create a really chill experience.
I would usually become pretty impatient with some game jam games but here I restarted several time to explore further each time. I don't really like the waiting necessary in some paths but it also somehow participated in the overall slow and natural experience.
Really excellent game!
:)
Very cool for me to hear that the game felt worth sticking around for. Honestly it's something I have a problem with in my designs, and it's something I'm actively experimenting with, so it's very gratifying to hear that you wanted to restart to explore further in this weird complicated system! Tyvm for playing and commenting!
No matter how hard I try I can't save the drowning person :'(
Very sweet game.
Fascinating
I'm going to keep playing, so I haven't rated it yet -- but my first impressions are -- "Hey, is this the developer of Starseed Pilgrim? That's a neat game that's also extremely chaotic that I never understood. Hey, is that the player character from Cave Story drowning in the sea? Hey, wait, this game has so much polish and is so well made for a game jam game. I'm not even sure what's happening but the presentation is the best I've seen so far out of any game here. Wait, this only has 7 ratings and no comments so far? What?"
Will play more before rating, but like Starseed Pilgrim, I'm not 100% confident yet that I'm going to understand what's happening.
Edit: OK, I understand now, get to the exits at the top of the screen while water slowly fills and you have to solve rock moving puzzles to do so. Again, presentation is absolutely fantastic, at least until the game starts lagging. I guess basically if the water fills up all the way and the game starts lagging, it's pretty much time to reset and try again, because you're certainly not moving those rocks anyway.
I've never played a game quite like this, so besides some minor issues with lag, it's really cool.
Thank you very much for being my first comment :) sorry I took so long to respond and to give your game a shot!
Glad you had a good time. I hope the lag wasn't too detrimental. I'm honestly stunned that the game runs as well as it does for as long as it does, considering how little optimization I did. That is, I did no optimization whatsoever, and just let the default 2d physics run wild >_>