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Ego Birth's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #146 | 4.281 | 4.281 |
| Overall | #276 | 4.026 | 4.026 |
| Presentation | #455 | 4.156 | 4.156 |
| Enjoyment | #642 | 3.641 | 3.641 |
Ranked from 64 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?
you play as an "NPC" and one of the main mechanic is waiting around for the real "Player" to interact with you
Did your team create the vast majority of the art during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the art during the game jam
Did your team create the vast majority of the music during the 48 hours?
Yes
We created the vast majority of the music during the game jam
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Comments
wow this is crazy! I love the concept and your did a fantastic job executing it! This is one of the most unique games I've seen and I adore it. I love that you have to go through the loop several times, just to put you into perspective of the mundaneness of the NPC's life :,)
This was a fantastic little game, nice use of the theme ! The game is cool and very enjoyable .
Really good concept and polish :D Good job !
Who are you and how have I never heard of you before?!?!
Okay, obviously there isn't an actual reason I should know you, Cuz this is the first game you released, but holy smokes did I enjoy it immensely. Not only this is easily my favorite experience of the jam, It's one of my favorite games of this year so far.
Maybe you're thinking I'm being ridiculous right now, but to me this is one of those experiences where you forget that what you're consuming was 'made' by someone and instead you are just completely immersed in it.
I'm not even saying any one of the game's element is out of this world or anything. The art is amazing, but not mind-blowing, the writing is good, but it's no Disco Elysium. same goes for the music, the writing, the mechanic, everything. But the way they all came together... let's just say they are definitely better than the sum of its parts
And obviously I'm also not saying the game is perfect, like you said in other comments, a lot of QoL features can be implemented, the multiple instance mechanic can definitely be expanded upon, not the ending though. I think the ending is exactly perfect. Gave me chills for days
So yeah, if this is what you managed to create in just 48 hours, I certainly can't wait to see what a full game from you would look like
lmao thank you so much for the super kind words!!! it's very, very inspiring :) and it feels really good to see that at least a couple people feel similarly excited about the game as i did when it first started coming together
LOVED this game!!! Very well made, and I always love things that are a bit meta. Admittedly, I wish we didn't have to click through the text so much, but besides from that this is a very lovely game. Props to you!!!
i did it! i'm a little blown away, this is really well done! some of the qol stuff you've mentioned in other comments would be good, but WOW this is already really solid.
i do like the ending, but the abruptness of the last sentence caught me off guard. "and then you realized." ...realized what? the mirror, or something else? i wasn't sure if the game crashed before the actual last line, or if that was it. i think maybe omitting that line entirely might help it feel better? or maybe cutting to a glitchy credits screen before closing the game--something that still feels like a crash, but also comes off as more intentional.
i did go back to replay and check if the "exactly one solution" promise held true... and i found a second way to do it? i found two ways to kill the pc in instance #1, and both of them worked for the final solution. not really a bug or anything, but i wasn't sure if this was intentional or not so i thought i'd make a note of it.
i love the look of this game--it feels equal parts trippy and retro. very well done. the music was very pleasant, and i like your interpretation of the theme a lot. i'm also partial to time loop games, so extra points there. this is one of my favorites so far!
tysm for the kind words!
the ending is def underbaked, but idk how much i want to commit to expanding upon it :c
there are indeed 2 ways to kill the PC in the first instance, but the one at the bar was supposed to be a red herring that doesn't "fit" into the intended loop. just something to create a little bit of extra challenge. but i was adjusting the overall scheduling pretty close to the deadline to create more "breathing room" and have less hectic instance switching, and i guess i didn't actually check if that made what you described possible. that's actually really cool to me that you found that, so again thank you so much :D
that’s completely understandable! and i did still enjoy the ending (depressing stories are my fav, lol)—just felt a little blindsided at first.
the bar method felt to me like a red herring, which is why i went back to check. wanted to see if it would work, or if i’d get some extra text where the main character was too disturbed by the “god’s tears” incident to watch the pc die again, or something like that.
Amazing art music atmosphere worldbuilding storytelling everything! Such a unique idea executed so well! Time loop mechanic reminded me of Outerwilds in the best way possble. Truly one of the best submissions Ive seen here!
Only small criticism is that you might wanna add a flashing lights warning, theyr not too strong but I would still be worried for some people.
ur 100% right on the flashing lights warning. i was worried about it too, but i only added the warning to the game's page, which people don't see if they come here from the jam page. i added it to the short blurb as well as a workaround.
when i do a small patch after the voting is over i'll include a warning screen in-game before even the main menu shows up and i'll def keep it in mind if/when i make anything else :) so ty for the heads up, i appreciate it
Utterly fantastic. I found myself engrossed both by the dystopian cyberpunk world and the dystopian video game world. While there are a lot of horror-themed entries, this was genuinely disturbing. Full marks, great job!
Wow the loop and instances system had me hooked, it gives so much depth to the visual novel style!
It really doesn't look like a Game Jam game, I'm amazed you managed to make this in such a short time! Well done!
The style is amazing! It sets a really good athmosphere for the entirity of the game in combination with the music. Very very well done! The idea is so creative as well, and you executed it perfectly. Good job!
Great style! sentient NPC trying to end it all.. WOW! very good idea!
What an amazing game. Definitely in the top few of the games I've played in this jam so far, if not at the top.
The art style is really unique, yet everything is also very coherent, including the music!
Aside from that, I do love some good time-loop shenanigans. Makes everything feel more impactful!
The only criticism I have is that clicking through text can be painful after a while if the player has already seen the text. Maybe that clicking and holding down the button for a while skips through text faster or just skips it entirely if there's no interaction with the player.
The ending is also a little freaky and abrupt - I see that others have already mentioned it, but I am curious what you had in mind for the actual ending aside from the game 'breaking'!
Still, the dialogue is immersive, the aesthetic is amazing, and I really enjoyed playing through this, so, uh, thank you for making it!
thank you for the kind words and the lengthy comment in general :)
a skip button is definitely a must as a QoL feature and flavor text should probably just not appear at all once you've seen it once, but the latter is a more involved issue since some flavor text also includes clues that i would want the player to be able to revisit if they missed them. ideally there'd be a screen that keeps track of the "player" schedule as you discover it + all the clues you've gathered, which would completely eliminate the need to repeat anything except conversations where you actually get to interact.
as for the ending, my original idea was pretty vague - it was just meant to show that sometimes your efforts are not rewarded and the end result of what you do is just making things worse. so you do break the loop, but what happens after is not what you expected and maybe not what you'd like, and it's too late to fix it or go back or w/e.
Yeah, that's definitely the thing about the flavor text! there is just important stuff in there. A log would definitely help there.
And that ending is kinda depressing! But, I do suppose there's a core of truth in there. Still just gotta move on afterwards!
This was one of my best experiences in this jam! The visuals are very unique, and together with the audio, they really set the mood and atmosphere of the game. The gameplay is super engaging, I like how each instance has little clues, and each loop more and more gets uncovered about the world. The story is also great (although I didn't really get the ending).
For a 48 hour game jam, this is some seriously well made entry. Incredible job!
thank you for the kind words :)
the main idea for the ending was just that the game kind of "breaks" now that the conscious observer (the player) is gone, but i had to rush it bc i was running out of time, so it ended up being very abstract and abrupt. i feel like abrupt undercooked endings are a common thing with story based jam games, at least in my experience of playing them lol
The art direction and music is simply phenomenal, i don't know what else to say.
The only issue i can think at the top of my head is associated with the text/font, as it becomes tiring to read. So perhaps a more regular text option would be a nice feature. Not saying i dislike it, but it takes a little toll on the eyes.
But man, story driven games are so cool...
Nicely done!
thank you for the feedback!! i 100% agree with the font comment, it's just hard to find a cool looking pixel art font that isn't too basic :(
Wow. Chilling.
Amazing for just 48 hours.
I really liked the surreal atmosphere and the idea is very unique and honestly caught me by surprise. The visuals kind of reminds me of LSD: Dream Emulator which i definitely want to see more of, i don't really like text based games a lot but i can't really judge since i made one as well. *SPOILER* i assume game closing after the text then you realised was intentional because it was the perfect way to end the game, if its not on purpose then it is a really happy accident :).
tysm!! LSD Dream Emulator is high praise...
and yeah the way it closes is intentional but it was mostly bc at that point i was in a rush so i just used the simplest option lol
I really vibed with this one. The main mystery & multiple-instances concept kept me in this game for longer than any other jam entry thus far. I was engrossed & had to see the ending.
The visual & audio aesthetics were strikingly unique too. Reminded me of Hylics, mixed with the visual style of the animator/polyglot Umami, with a dash of Earthbound thrown in for good measure. The clashing colors & dithered decimation of the art have a tangy crunch to them that I adore. The music seems like basic sketches but is at once unearthly & wistful in a way that made it stick in my head.
As for possible areas for improvement: having some kind of HUD indicator icon that the Player is about to show up in a given instance would be nice to avoid switching around or needing to write down specific times, but that's a matter of tally. An in-game logbook of times the Player shows up that fills out after each time you encounter them could work too & encourage a more methodical approach from the literal player. Seeing the place descriptions come up every time after the first seemed a bit redundant after a while, but that's a polish step if anything.
I really want to see what you do next. I'm looking forward to it.
tysm for the detailed feedback and kind words!! it's esp flattering because i enjoyed your submission so much as well
i pretty much agree with all the suggestions and some of them were even planned but had to be scrapped at the last moment bc i barely finished the game in time as is lol
also i've never heard of umami before so thanks for the rec. their style seems really cool from what i'm seeing so far :)
You're very welcome! I really appreciated your feedback too!
Makes sense it was the game jam bounds squeezing out the quality of life features, etc. So it goes, hah.
Also, yeah, hope you enjoy Umami's stuff! They make music under the name Hexsystem too!
i don't really like that design but the game is cool to play!
the visuals were stunning, super cool.
Very unique aesthetic, and quite a change of pace seeing a visual novel in this jam, nice work!
oooh it's very cryptic and i love the art direction i love it