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A jam submission

AfterView game page

Submitted by Not Jam (@NotJamGames) — 9 hours, 12 minutes before the deadline
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After's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Audio#14.5934.593
Overall#184.2874.287
Graphics#244.3704.370
Authenticity (use of resolution)#424.7044.704
Gameplay#1073.4813.481

Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Did you work in a team?
Just me :)

Was the resolution a challenge?
Definitely tricky! Encourages careful attention to every pixel to try and maximise readability

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Comments

Submitted

Wow! Very cool game. Classic slasher-horror aesthetic. Loved it.

Submitted

very nice game, good idea, nice cutscenes. i would have liked the forest to have a bit more complicated puzzles

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Nice little old-school horror movie homage!

I don’t know whether I have anything meaningful to add to what others have already pointed out in the comments.

The opening “cinematic” and closeup-scene did a good job in setting the morbid mood and tone.

My main annoyance was probably the hitbox of the character (something I usually botch myself, so I’d know!)

The boss battle also felt somewhat superimposed compared to the rest of the game, but it provided a decent challenge.

The story didn’t exactly offer much substance or real resolution, but I guess that wasn’t the point here either. Gotta love ’em ambiguous horror-mysteries!

I guess some elements distantly reminded me of my old Lowrez-entry from two years ago.

Keep up the good work!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing! Appreciate the detailed feedback :)

Totally agree the boss ended up being a bit out of place - started to worry towards the end of the jam that there wasn't a lot of actual gameplay and was running out of time, so just sort of chucked something in there. A key takeaway for this jam for me was definitely that I need to pay a lot more attention to time management on projects longer than 48-72 hours!

P.S. I played your entry from 2 years back - it's great! Love the sound design in particular, I'm always up for harsh, distorted and unsettling things. The world was really fun to explore, and I loved the surreal tone throughout.

Submitted(+1)

It was a good game, I liked the scary atmosphere. good luck

Developer(+1)

Thanks very much :)

Submitted(+1)

Really great vibe and the music was cool.
It's a shame there weren't any more close ups of the other crime scenes though.

Movement could have used a bit of improvement - not being able to walk diagonally, and getting stuck on corners felt really awkward.

The noise over everything was nice, but maybe a bit much. The static noise/dithering on the flashlight also looked a little weird in motion.

And after getting the chainsaw it was a little annoying having the sound play every time you interacted with something.

Developer

Thanks for the detailed feedback - this is really useful :) 

I'd deliberately restricted the movement to 4 way as I wanted to evoke the feeling of playing a gameboy game, but feedback seems to be that 8 way would be preferred - I'll make sure for future projects that I consider whether a particular retro-style limitation actually improves gameplay or is just my nostalgia. 

I'll also bear in mind less is more with screen space effects, and try to provide options to disable or adjust the strength of the effect :) 

The chainsaw noise is my bad - didn't realise until too late! 

Thanks for playing :) 

Submitted(+1)

Impressive atmosphere! I really like the sounds and music, and the action scene at the ending. 

I kinda wish I could move in 8 directions, but I got used to it really quick and it didn't bother me much after that. 

I also enjoyed the metroidvania aspect of it (seeing places you can't reach initially but getting items and backtracking to be able to). Finding keys was a bit "linear" in the sense that they were all on the "off paths". The woman cutscene is great and I wish there were more, but I can absolutely understand having to prioritize other things because of the time restrictions.

One thing about your games that always makes me want to play them whenever I see you in a game jam is the mood and the audio. They always have a specific "feel" to them that I find great. Good work!

Developer

Thanks so much :) really touched by your comments on my games in general - means a lot!

Glad you enjoyed the metroidvania aspects, it was really fun to do and something I'd love to come back to in future projects. Totally get what you mean with the keys - going to have to go back and play a bunch of Zelda games for inspiration!

Submitted(+1)

Love the visuals, especially the noise effect! Though wasn’t able to find my 5. key, had to quit :/

Developer

Thanks very much! Sorry you weren't able to find the key, cheers for playing though :)

Submitted(+1)

So good! I jumped every time ToT I played again to see if anything was different, and I started with all the items ^^ The pixel art of the dead woman was great I wished all of them had it, especially the guy that looked like he was split in two <:o really well made!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much! Never even thought to make sure I reset items at the start of each run - my bad on that front. 

I'd originally planned to have a little cutscene before each of the bodies, but poor time management on my part meant I never got around to it. Really glad you liked the one I managed to finish though :)

Thanks for playing!

Submitted(+1)

That sound and music design is amazing, and the game looks fantastic, lots of subtle touches like the camp sign being animated and the dithering on the light really makes it look good.  The cutscenes are really well done as well. Especially the first victim you find, the music cue is right on. 

The experience itself is a little linear, but that's to be expected from a jam game, and I don't think it necessarily detracts from the experience at all. I also wasn't quite clear what the exploding thing I came across a few times was, but I think it might have been the baddie showing up and then disappearing? 

I appreciate the skyrim style dungeon exit after picking up the chainsaw so I didn't have to go all the way back around, and really the only major feedback I have is that it would be nice if the hitbox of the character was a bit smaller than the paths so you get some wiggle room and don't get caught on the corner of trees. 

Really strong submission, fantastic work. 

Developer

Thank you so much! Really appreciate the detailed feedback, and delighted you picked up on the small details like the placement of the chainsaw to avoid backtracking :)

The exploding thing is the baddie, who hides in the bushes with an audio cue once spotted - definitely could have used a little more work to ensure that was a little more clearly conveyed

Hitboxes are definitely an issue for me, I should definitely have looked at either making the paths bigger or the player character smaller. Something to keep in mind for the next jam!

Cheers again :)

Submitted(+1)

Incredibly atmospheric story-driven romp. You adjust to lack of diagonal movement quick. Environment raises curiosity very well. Graphics are really nice, with a lot of tiny touches that add to it, and the music is very fitting. Captures the vibe of the genre very well, although the bossfight felt a bit less tense than the leadup.

Developer

Thanks very much! I was hoping to add a few more phases to the final boss fight with different attack patterns to up the stakes, but some poor time management on my part meant I didn't quite get around to it!

Cheers for the feedback :)

Submitted(+1)

Super awesome atmosphere, and the sound design was great!

Developer

Thanks so much :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Nice game! I liked the sound design and music a lot. One of my favorites in this jam for sure.

Developer

Thanks very much :) glad you liked the music and sfx!

Submitted(+1)

Nice little story… map might be a bit too linear but the game is nice to go through. The directional lighting looks nice, though i might have gone more extreme and really have a very directional lightsource and add a bit more scary encounters in the darkened areas that had you aiming your light looking for danger ;) Nice job with this entry!

Developer(+1)

Cheers for the feedback! 

Absolutely agree about linearity - would have loved to have a bigger map with more connections, shortcuts and player choice in terms of route/order. Would definitely have been feasible with some slightly better time management on my part, something for the next jam!

Really intrigued by the idea of aiming a flashlight in a top-down environment, might have to have a play around with something like that at some point :)

Submitted(+1)

I have to agree with everyone else here, the presentation is top-notch. Great job with the graphics and the audio!

Developer

Thank you very much :)

Submitted(+1)

Very well made! The presentation is top notch (intro cinematic, music, sounds. etc.)! The last bit was definitely a cool surprise. The only thing that annoyed me a little was the character's hitbox, it's the same size as those small passages.

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Really happy the presentation stood out :)

Great point on the hitbox - I think I just got used to it through playtesting, but it's definitely something that I should have fixed, particularly since I ended up using so many small passages

Submitted(+1)

this was very good- audio was great- i thought it was over when i got to the boat lol

Developer

Thanks! Glad you liked the audio, was a really fun soundtrack to work on :)

Submitted(+1)

I normally don't like story-based games but you guys drew me in with the visuals and the cinematography in the cutscenes! You guys nailed the making the game feel atmospheric and made it fun to walk around.

I was also impressed I was able to read the text!

Developer

Thank you! Glad you made an exception for me :)

There's something about making low-pixel fonts that I find really appealing, so very glad it was readable for you :)

Submitted(+1)

I love the storytelling of your game. Perfect ambiance, great work!

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Absolutely smitten with the atmosphere of this one.  Beautiful detail and the graphics are beautiful within the constraints of the jam, and really just in general.  

(I was going to mention the Carpenter connection, but I see you already did haha!)

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much! Really happy with this feedback, glad the atmosphere worked for you :)

Submitted(+1)

Top marks from me. If I hadn't died so many times on the arrows I would still be playing. Love the atmosphere and the dark sensibilities of the story. Special mention for the music, top work.

Developer(+2)

Thanks so much! Really appreciate the comments on the music, I had a lot of fun doing my best John Carpenter impression lol