Play game
Orphanarium's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #1 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #1 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #1 | 4.167 | 4.167 |
| Fun | #1 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Sound/Audio | #1 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://veins.itch.io/orphanarium/devlog/383107/super-huge-mega-update-v20
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
great animation work! this game does a good job of telling what to do and establishing narrative with no text.
Hi so I tried your game last weekend and I have to say, your game is scary not in the perspective of horror but more the fact that I couldn't find one negative thing about it. So let’s start with the music really great work, the graphics are also nice feels like there are really polished and the maximum you could get out of the 2d style. The controls feel good the only thing I would change is to highlight a bit the platform’s you can jump on like the Chears and the shelf’s but other than that excellent work. I wasn't able to finish the game because my GPU just died so only came till the point where you leave the building.
Your comment made my day! Thank you so much!
Sadly I never managed to make it to the end of the game, but from as far as I made it (I collected 5 items) I can tell this was a labor of love.
I honestly loved how you did the menu with information just popping up when you hovered over an option. It's very intuitive and looks like it would cut down on having to deal with opening/closing individual windows and submenus. I enjoyed reading the Notes, I'm amazed you've been hacking away on some of these ideas since before I was born! It's cool how past projects from so long ago still have DNA in this game.
I liked how even without voice acting the story comes across fairly naturally through the visual speech and thought bubbles. It's also a very neat diegetic way to teach the player game mechanics, like the nuns talking about how the shadow demon things are warded off with candles.
Each picked up item allowed progression through the game world in a decent metroidvania fashion, and it was kinda cool how each past area changed with each item you gathered.
The only major complaints I have are as someone mentioned some more volume controls, which I notice you said was attempted but were unable to implement fully. I admit thats the sort of thing I usually added last in all of my projects up until very recently, so I know the pain of implementing it.
Also I don't know if it got more obvious, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was supposed to do once I got the bottle of what I assume was holy water. That's the fifth item I collected and where I decided to stop.
I mostly enjoyed what I played, and I admit platformers have never been my personal favourite, so I wouldn't normally play a game like this outside of a jam. That being said I definitely encourage you to continue working on it, there's a decently solid core to it. I would've liked to have the time to try and get all 7 endings but I'm afraid my schedule doesn't allow for it.
Excellent work!
Thank you for the long, detailed and highly favorable comment!
The game is fairly compact, so I think you reached at a point where you had a good idea about what the game is about, and then you turned it off. The solution to every riddle (including the Holy Water) is usually a couple of screens away, and as you mentioned, the nuns may have had to say something about it! But yes, you got the game's vibe and I'm glad you could appreciate it, even if you don't usually like this style of gameplay.
Regarding the sound, if 3 people out of 3 complain about the music, I should do something about it. The best thing I can do, is to release a version without music. And I just did, problem solved!
Fun fact: I saw your name in the jam a few days ago and it made me smile because my latest game was named EnigmAttic.
I really liked the main menu, though I would have liked either a mute button for the music or a slider so I could adjust the volume. I can tell you put a lot of work into the game!
Thanks!
Another guy also mentioned the sound and I gave it a go but I failed.
I tried adding a mute button but it needs a lot more work than it should. Also, If I muted the game, all the sfx would mute too. And I decided not to bother with it. The music and sfx are critical for the game and I spend about 15% of the game's development for the sound, so If anyone wants to kill the music, they should do it from the Windows sound options.
Look into how to create new audio buses for the game and route all sfx to a sfx bus and all music to a music bus, that way you can mute or alter the volume separately. Like some people might want a low volume on the music but keep the sfx high. Though how difficult this is for the engine you are using I don't know. I haven't experimented with volume sliders or such yet but in Dragonslide I made two separate channels to mute music and sfx because I got a comment wishing for the option.
I appreciate the positive push, but the way Orphanarium is made... you would have to press mute every time you enter a room. Even if I was to remake the game from scratch, I wouldn't know how to fix this issue. The best I can do, is to release a version without music in the game.
The Games music is nice but not for to long(maybe a mute button would be nice). The controls are very nice everything fells responsive and really good to play. Its nice that there are multiple endings . Some Levels lag a little bit.
You are right. I did try to reduce the lagging, but in the end it depends on your computer and if you play it full screen or not. As for the mute, button, I could try to add one. Thanks for the feedback!