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A jam submission

Hazard PayView game page

Mine for resources on a distant world. Manage time as you plan your route and descend into the crevice.
Submitted by Zucchini3D — 40 seconds before the deadline
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Hazard Pay's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#213.8003.800
Visuals#303.7003.700
Audio (Does not apply for Physical Games)#353.1003.100
Overall#482.8002.800
Fun Factor#562.3002.300

Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Is your game a video game or a physical game?
Video

Was your game made solo or in a team?
Team! Made by Jeffrey Ryan and Daniel Loo (roles are in the desc)

Did you use any third party assets, if yes what assets did you use?
Everything minus the pot breaking sound was made by us. That sound came from FreeSound.org -- The arms were generated in MakeHuman, but they weren't created by a third party.

Did you use choose from one of the optional secondary themes?
The theme we were going for the most was Spatial Confusion.

Does your game contain 18+ content (Nudity, Gore, Language)?
No

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Comments

Submitted (2 edits) (+1)

I played v7.

In terms of mech controls I think this is one of the most innovative entries. I love the feeling of being inside the cockpit and only have this low res screen out to the outside world, then stepping out. And the world itself is really nice looking, although like others said it's quite easy to fall around it.

The atmosphere and worldbuilding feel really cool, kind of like low-tech sci fi which I always love.

Although I feel like a mech might be hard to control in this setting, it might be nice to streamline it simplify for the gameplay experience. The enabling steering was quite difficult to keep track of, I feel like a simple combination of mouse to look around/rotate, and WASD to move might have been the best option. That would let you grapple wherever you want and get out of spots you're stuck in.

You could even provide the two modes of control as an accessibility option, by default the easier is enabled but the more difficult could be opted-in.

Other than that, awesome entry! Would love to see more in this style/universe.

Developer

Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words!! I tried especially hard to convey that low-tech feeling with the screen and controls -- really emphasizing that "spatial confusion" subtheme which i loved-- so this comment made my day omg. However there comes the challenge of making intentionally cumbersome controls, but...in a fun way? Kind of like that old Receiver game where it's stupidly complex to aim/reload/shoot the main weapon. I agree, though, the steering and looking up part of the mech definitely need tweaks to make it more responsive. Like I found my own head subconsciously hunching downwards to try and get a better upwards angle when I was in the mech LOL. The enabling steering was a hotfix to address concerns with the previous steering method, which was quite literally nauseating (the mech turned but your player didnt :I), so the lack of playtesting is definitely where that clunkyness comes from. Ideally we wanted the whole mech to have 360 degree intractability buuut we didn't get that far lol. I LOVE the idea of an optional steering system though, that seems like the perfect middle ground for what I want to go for. Really appreciate that suggestion, and thank you so much for the wonderful feedback overall! (btw love the angel's egg profile piiic)

Submitted(+1)

Great mech design with a beautiful world to navigate! Unfortunately I had a difficult time figuring out where to go which led to me falling into a lot of chasms aimlessly. Even that was pretty interesting though!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Very cool visuals, was kind of hard to navigate the mech. I got caught in a chasm and was not able to return to the ship before my systems ceased. I think this entry could have been playtested more and the overall scope/player experience reconsidered.

Love the grappling hook, but its hard to use when your mech can’t look up.

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

This is visual treat, a really distinctive art style and lots going on. I got a bit stuck in the terrain quite a lot, but I feel that was probably a deliberate design choice. I liked the way you could get in and out of the mech, and it had the various functions inside as a bank of buttons (I'm not sure, but was one of them a sort of "find treasure" ping?)

I was wondering about the R button to enable mech steer, as the A and D keys didn't seem to have any other use while inside the mech. Was there a reason for it that didn't make it in (or I just missed)?

Host(+1)

Really unique visuals!

Submitted(+1)

Game looks beautiful, and i also like the sense of scale you get right from the start when you can wander a bit on foot and see the landscape and your mech parked on the side.

Now seeing that you chose the secondary theme of spacially confused, i get why everything is left up to the player to figure out, but i just think here it's a bit too confusing to try and figure out what to do, i was able to get in the mech and move a bit, but i couldn't figure out where i was supposed to go so i ended up exiting the mech and realised i was in a ditch somewhere.

Regardless, The presentation and tight responsive fps controls make for a great game, and the quality is clearly on display here, so good job :)

Submitted(+1)

This game was almost alot of fun. Over the course of learning to gather pots by leaving my mech, and how exactly to turn my mech, and how to leave my mech,  and that I shouldn't return the ship at the start (I misunderstood what the intro was telling me) because I then couldn't get out of the ship, I had to force quit the game multiple times. Each time I started it back up, I found waiting through the intro more and more tedious because I couldn't figure out a way to skip it. Finally, I reached a point where I had lost for reasons that were unclear, the game froze, and I didn't want to go through the intro again.


Mining with mechs is an interesting concept. Getting out of the mech to do the mining is odd, especially given how the player's health seems to go down when they're outside the mech. I like the idea. The grapple is very well done. I have no idea what the buttons inside the mech do.

Developer(+1)

I'll take an 'almost'! Thank you so much for your feedback! There are definitely a LOT of bumps that need to be sanded down in order to make this fun (I think v7 is now reliably 'playable'...but the fun factor is definitely a toss up. In that version, I also made it so the intro plays just once!). If I get around to updating this project, I will surely include a small walkthrough of the mech's different abilities / the win condition, and make them more clear. You can actually mine inside the mech, but I wasn't able to get any sounds in for v4...so it's hardly noticeable. It's that little cannon button on the HUD. With that said, I really appreciate you taking the time to give such clear and concise feedback, and I'll surely keep this all in mind whenever another jam rolls around! Take care and I can't wait to play your game!

Submitted

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish a single-player game in the timelimit, so if you do try my game you'll need another person. And, there's no end condition, so alot is going to hinge on whether you find the mechanics enjoyable. Also, there's no sound. So... no pressure to play, but if you do and have any feedback I'm open to it.

Submitted(+1)

The surreal landscape and visuals are a treat, and the music is very tranquil. 

I also enjoyed the E.Y.E.-esque intro voice over :)

I think the controls need work, and even though I completed the game I am unclear about the capabilities of my mech. I don't know what the different parts are, what the mech interface does, or what the beeping means etc. 

Overall I liked it. Who is the mountain sculpture of, is it one of the devs? :D

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Daniel did an amazing job with the environment, I totally agree. And yes, a lot of the feedback so far has to do with the controls of the game. I definitely got carried away / got so used to the weird layout that I didn't consider the player's perspective aaagh. When I get back to updating the game, I'm 100% putting a little tutorial walkthrough in, because you're absolutely right that no communication is given towards what any of that is, save for the quick voice-over we threw in last minute, hah! In the meantime, I'll update the description to better explain things. As for the sculpture, I'll ask Dan! I would seriously not be surprised if he was able to throw in a quick 3D scan of his face, the man is a modeling wizard xD

Thanks again for the feedback and playing our game, I sincerely appreciate it. :^)