Whoa, after finishing the demo, I thought, how does this approach dual purpose? I like seeing games that approach it in a more thematic/narrative/rule/system kind of way since I thought of it in a more mechanical/input sense. It definitely was creepy and comical at the same time haha. The chair makes sense as it evokes the sense of a human popping up somewhere or the chair being sentient and maybe, potentially taking revenge (because of the wood arm and chair messages). Anything can be read from it. Took me some minutes to figure out how to trigger the next moment but I got it. And I really like how the end has [Spoilers for anyone else potentially reading]
2 chairs back to back to further indicate that you've reached the end, as you cannot go behind any of those chairs. Mixing this with some mechanical dual purpose, like the zoom in triggering certain things might make this fulfill the theme to the max!
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Stand Behind the Chair's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Feel | #28 | 4.200 | 4.200 |
| Aesthetics | #104 | 4.100 | 4.100 |
| Overall | #127 | 3.700 | 3.700 |
| Innovation | #236 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Theme | #355 | 2.800 | 2.800 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your submission match the theme?
=== WARNING - HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS BELOW, I STRONGLY SUGGEST PLAYING BEFORE READING ===
The game does not focus on multiple purpose _mechanics_ but rather multiple purposes and ambiguity in different areas of game _design_ like character development, plot and level design.
Because of the very limited, yet still vague and misleading, exposition throughout the game, the chair - despite being the only actual object within it - plays multiple roles in the game world. At times it seems like it's tied to the protagonist, another person, an event, at other times - to a painful memory. Sometimes it seems to be the villain of the story or a represantation thereof, at other times it seems more connected to the protagonist (or is it the protagonist itself?) and it feels soothing to finally see it intact. Maybe it's an allegory, maybe it's not, maybe it doesn't even matter.
Other than that, the title is also the objective at every stage of the game - the only one you need to progress, contributing to the overall minimalism in gameplay.
Third-party resources
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Graphics: paint.net
Audio: Audacity
Assets from outside sources:
a) Graphical assets:
- postcard clipart (CC0, https://openclipart.org/detail/267431/postcard-airmail-with-stamp)
- blood decal clipart (CC0, https://openclipart.org/detail/192066/blood)
- pattern wallpaper image (CC0, https://pixabay.com/pl/wz%C3%B3r-t%C5%82a-linie-paski-%C5%BC%C3%B3%C5%82ty-tapety-1604717/)
- Wooden Chair model (CC0, https://etechstudios.itch.io/assets-woodchair)
- Wood Oak, Glass, Ground Gravel materials, Fire particle system (UE4 Standard Assets, https://www.unrealengine.com/eula)
b) Sounds:
- "Bluezone Abyss", "Bluezone Dspace", "WI- Log thrown on wood bunch", "Just Whoosh", "HumBuzz_Buzz" audio clips (from the Sonniss Game Audio Monthly packs, http://www.sonniss.com/gameaudiomonthly/)
- "Rain_Light", "roll_over_01", "wood_large_shatter_01", "roll_over_01", "roll_over_03", "confirm_01", "cancel_01", "cancel_03" audio clips (from the Madison Pike Audio Kit Asset Pack, acquired from a Humble Bundle, https://pastebin.com/Jc4YAeGt)
Contributors
Kacper Ciepielewski
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