I had a great time!
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Watershed's itch.io pageComments
Loved the atmosphere in this! The texturing and use of billboards sprites makes it feel authentic, but also uncanny in a way that keeps you off balance. The use of the CRT filter, which becomes much more distorted when you're underwater, is also a really nice touch. It made me feel claustrophobic, and like I had to get out of the water as soon as I could! I got a little stuck in a couple of areas; the first time you get a key and have to go back through the water, for example, I struggled to make it back before drowning. Once I realised that jumping underwater lets you move a lot quicker, it all fell into place!
Submitted
The Sirena ExpeditionGood atmosphere, nice implementation of underwater, both visually and in controls.
Wondered if there were different endings, since the whole corridor thing was pretty linear, but guess not! Also that one music track is cool.
Submitted
⛧ THE SALVATION PROJECT ⛧Truly amazing!
I was very surprised by the water physics, because they felt so natural and out of the real world. Most water physics, especially in horror games are a no show, but this one made an impression.
For what I like about underwater horror games, my top tier list just got bigger. Your game impressed me a lot. Some parts of the game are kind of weird and truly creepy and the overall atmosphere is magnificent for this type of games, but the ending took me off guard and I kind of wanted to see more lore and just left me out there, open minded.
Nevertheless, I loved it. The proof is in the video. Thanks for making the game and hope to see somewhat full release.
This is a really engrossing experience. I think the strengths of this game are the use of the effects to really set a mood. You do a great job of placing the player in the eye of the proverbial storm. I think that this is a really unique interpretation of the jam theme.
The gameplay mechanics are good, using air as a limited resource for the player's survival. The flooded house is a great opportunity for confined horror and player exploration. Great choice of sprites, sound effects, and level design around the house.
The atmosphere is top-notch here. Wading through and then diving into water attempting (in futility) to stage a hurricane rescue was immersive, pun intended! There's definitely a lot of opportunities to flesh out this really promising idea even more.
Some constructive feedback if you continue to develop this game:
- Given that the mechanisms to retrieve the key aren't really 'puzzles' in the conventional sense, it may be better trying to find a way to work them into the design of the house.
- The mazelike design of the house works very well, but I'd probably avoid getting the player to go down a long corridor after the player has likely already died attempting to wander down another one that's scripted to be endless, as fun as the visual trick behind that one was.
- Were there multiple endings? I would have liked to have learned a little more about the monster and the relationship between the surreal television narration from the endgame phase.
I did a playthrough below:
Great job on this, and thanks for submitting. It's a really impressive piece of work.
Wow, thank you! This made it worth all the trouble. =) And thanks for the video as well!
I doubt I'll work on it much, apart from working out bugs and UX things. Good feedback though, I really appreciate it.. some of the things I thought of (how to work out more on the story, or do spins with the gameplay) but ultimately it came down to keeping it tight and deliver for a gamejam... I woulnd't mind if someone gets an inspiration and does something better or longer, though!
No alternative endings, I'm afraid. Didn't have the time for that.
I DID tinker with the ending for quite some time, guess I can talk about what I've been up to, since you composed such a pretty message..
(SPOILERS)
First, I was thinking the character gets flushed really far into the pipe systems, and ends up in the ocean, or just like, outside, but -everything- is now underwater. Kinda epic and silly. Then I took the idea of "outside", thought of a underwater city and was thinking of making a few Silent Hill style streets, and was thinking of adding monsters, but that wouldn't have pushed any of the narrative forward and would have been WAY too much work. Then I tinkered with the idea that you just dive into somekind of a monster's belly, and actually built that, but it felt just funny to me. The monster had like a ton of eyes all over in a vast nothingness, so one evening I thought of switching them to the PSA tv's, and thats where it clicked, all it needed was an onslaught of warnings that you can't react to. Then after the PSA sequence, I had another monster jump and kill you, but I took that out, since it felt silly. I wanted to end it with a sense of empty dread.
The narrative is pretty loose, and I'd imagine ppl interpret it differently.. I'm kinda iffy about explaining what I was thinking, since it might sound pretentious or lock the vision into something singular, and I'm not sure what I've conjured up afterwards or in-progress, anyhow.. But, just for the heck of it. What I was contemplating on is the PSA is like a public concern that gets ignored, no matter how many tv screens, or no matter how many voices shout out there. And by the time the person who is in control (the player) is overwhelmed, its too late to do anything. And the monsters are the idea of death, like a cosmic death that's indifferent of what we do. Death literally at your doorstep. All of these things I say, they're the horror of the game for me.
(SPOILERS)
Thanks for the thoughtful response!
No problem, I just like giving feedback - I understand given the jam mindset that most people prefer to leave their game as is.
All of these ideas are definitely worth exploring down the track as alternative settings through a different game, I think!
I like your idea about the PSA. It can be hard to integrate nuance in horror games given that most are not dialog-heavy, but I think the idea of an unheeded warning is a very sobering theme - there is something awfully numbing about the way we are always primed to expect danger.
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