Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
Tags
A jam submission

Project TBD - The Backwards DetectiveView game page

Stop the assassinations, no matter how many times it takes!
Submitted by CoralineDarkDesigns, lizzi88liz, JJ-RGB, BucketPro, Lithobraker — 32 seconds before the deadline
Add to collection

Play Game Prototype

Project TBD - The Backwards Detective's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Can't Wait For The DLC / Sequel#162.6252.625
Art / Aesthetic#173.2503.250
Music & Sound#172.8752.875
Overall#182.5752.575
Ready to Release for Money!#211.7501.750
Gameplay / Fun Factor#242.3752.375

Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

  • I really like the concept of using multiple playthroughs to piece together information! Unfortunately, I did not win the game as I could not figure out how to solve the third murder attempt (in the top right room). Something I would suggest would be adding a little more context in the beginning indicating which person the player is trying to protect, as well as introducing the gameplay of finding and using items. I figured it out after a couple of runs, but I think some initial directions could more smoothly introduce players to the goal. That said, great job! I think the pacing of the game is done very well, and all the dialogue adds to the worldbuilding. I enjoyed playing, and I would love to play more. :)

Concept Jam Submission Link
https://coralinedarkdesigns.itch.io/project-tbd-concept-jam

Prototype Jam Submission Link
https://coralinedarkdesigns.itch.io/project-tbd-concept-jam

Production Jam Submission Link
https://coralinedarkdesigns.itch.io/project-tbd-concept-jam

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Submitted

5 stars on music/sound for that death sound :)

This game has potential. It needs more clues to figure out what you're supposed to be doing. Right now I feel like I'm just brute forcing everything. If there's something that gets drawn in front of me I assume it's not something I'm supposed to deal with. I found the pills and gave them to a guy on a carpet. I found a snake in a toilet but no stick.

Also I found out that the gun gets dropped by a guy in a room after an amount of time. Having events like that means that I'll need to go stand in each room for as long as possible to find out if things will happen like that. And if I prevent his death and time goes on longer, that means I'll have to go wait in every room again to find out if there are any new random events.

It's a good start to detective game. It just needs a trail of breadcrumbs to follow for the player.

Good job on this :)

Submitted

I really love the aesthetic. All the characters are really cool and I love the robots dressed up fancy, but I had some problems figuring out what to do. I wandered around a bit and stood in each room when the kill sound went off and couldn't figure out who was the guy I was supposed to be saving. I found the pills but I couldn't seem to find any other item to interact with.

I really like this concept and think with a little more explanation and fleshing it out it would be a really fun detective game.

Submitted

Hah, I love the failure/restart sound clip. Wish I could find that fabled stick, though.

I'd be curious to hear if you have any "lessons learned" or "postmortem" thoughts. Jamming as a team definitely has its challenges, and it seems like the 5-week length might add a few more wrinkles.

Submitted(+1)

I like all the NPCs that you have created and you MJ like protagonist. A quick think the I would change to improve your gameplay look is replace some of the intro dialogue with dialogue that better explains how to play. E.G.

  • There's a killer on the loose. Find the weapons he's stashed to prevent the murder from happening
  • How did this weapon get here? Let me put it away so no one gets hurt
  • Anything that explains that you need to look for weapons around the map and pick them up before the "timer" goes off/the killer does

I also think that you need to create some kind of win state or give the player some kind of score in between runs to tie what's happening together and give the player a break between runs. Lastly, I think you could also see some kind of way to show the player how much time they have left until the killer finds the next weapon before you.

Submitted

Couldn't really tell what was going on, unfortunately. I think you have a cool concept here, but it's pretty rough for 5 weeks of work

Submitted

A game you only really beat once. I enjoyed it, though there needed to be some indicator for a restart other than a sound effect. Something like 'he died' or a kill-cam or something.