Pirate Software - Game Jam 14

Hosted by Pirate Software · #PirateJam

Overview Submissions Results Screenshots Submission feed

A jam submission

WitchDoctorView game page

A top down mystery game filled with adultery and murder!

Submitted by Alex ☕🇨🇦 — 51 minutes, 24 seconds before the deadline

Add to collection

Play game

WitchDoctor's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Artistic Style	#1	5.000	5.000
Theme	#104	4.000	4.000
Cleverness	#864	2.500	2.500
Playability	#943	2.000	2.000

Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

Love the atmosphere in this. Really good use of the theme as well. Absolutely loved the narrative and the intrigue around it. I found that the character movement felt overly oppressive due to the movement speed of other characters in the environment. I would like to have seen more interactions between the theme and the environment or other characters. Overall this is a fantastic start to what appears to be a very interesting story. Good job!
The theme is perfect, foreboding and interesting from the outset and utilises the art direction and music very powerfully, but doesn't engage the player in any meaningful way mechanically. The gameplay loop is largely focused on talking to NPCs repeatedly, but none of them have anything interesting to say and don't push the story forward fast enough for this to be a realistic consideration in this format. +Music +Art

Did you include your Game Design Document in your downloadable files?
Yes

Tell us about your game!
WitchDoctor is a casual mystery game with a lovecraftian aesthetic where you try and discover the source the the spreading darkness. As you try and uncover the mystery you end up unearthing other secrets the village has kept quiet.

Did you remember to include your Game Design Document?
Yes

Is your game set to Public so we can see it?
Yes

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Comments

Erik HamiltonSubmitted322 days ago(+1)

Extremely cool idea! I loved the dialogue, full of wit, full of intrigue.

I didn't always find traversing the landscape to be super interesting, but maybe that's part of the intention that I missed.

I saw you say to someone else that you're gonna release the ability to solve it in phases. I'll have to tune in again then because I'm interested to see how the game progresses!

Submitted

A Kind Of Community

Alex ☕🇨🇦Developer322 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Appreciate the feedback!

The fixed camera and limited controller cap the dynamics. In the future I may add a few more frames or particles to make the animations a bit more fluid and add a dynamic camera that will punch in when you speak with NPCs

Something like

Erik HamiltonSubmitted322 days ago(+1)

Rad!

Oh and I forgot to mention it before, but I really, really enjoyed the scrawl sound. I really like a good scrawl and it just felt like it fit the game so well.

LadyVignetteSubmitted325 days ago(+1)

The game has a strong atmosphere and I liked the mechanic of going from one light source to another.
Maybe I missed something but it wasn't clear how to progress the story and solve the murder (if it is solvable). I talked to all villagers I could find but that's it.
Overall the game is intriguing, good luck with the project!

Submitted

Gossip At Terrestrial High

Alex ☕🇨🇦Developer325 days ago(+1)

Thanks for playing! There was no resolution of the murder in this teaser. I’m going to be releasing the four other days in phases

RodMakerSubmitted327 days ago

Aestheticaly pleasing, with an intricated storyline filled with layers. Great take on the theme! Congratulations!

Submitted

jjoshpolandSubmitted328 days ago(+1)

Great art and aesthetic in general, definitely kept me searching, but was also very frustrated to not make progress and get stuck in the dark a lot.

Submitted

Goblin Fandango

RoryMcBigSubmitted328 days ago(+1)

Such a cool execution of a warped, lovecraftian world, I was thoroughly consumed (by the spreading darkness). Thanks for sharing, and have a wonderful jam 💚

Submitted

It's Spreading!

OnlineambassadorSubmitted328 days ago(+1)

Outstanding work! The narrative is truly exceptional, standing out as one of the finest on itch. I am eagerly anticipating the complete game . I am a huge fan of this work, however, while exploring, I did identify a minor issue—inputting an unintended number on the keyboard appears to allow for the unintentional skipping of dialogue and it wasn't obvious at first that the fire places recharged my light. I hope this observation will contribute to the ongoing refinement of your impressive work!

Submitted

Puppy Dogs Tails

Alex ☕🇨🇦Developer328 days ago(+1)

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the heads up! I’ve got a fix ready to go

AnthuulosSubmitted329 days ago(+1)

The music and the art fuse great, while the general story has you waiting for more. Definitely one of the best in the jam. On the browser (Firefox), the dialogue was occluded by the options. Tried the desktop version but it seemed to had a bigger resolution than 1080p, which didn't allow me to see the different options. Small details in an otherwise great submission. Amazing work!!!

Submitted

DoopsSubmitted329 days ago

Wow, really impressed with all of this. Very interesting story and i love the pixel lighting effect. Engaging mystery game and I would love to see a full game like this.. Awesome job!

Submitted

NeverFoundGlitchSubmitted329 days ago(+1)

amazing game well polished (a lot better than mine :D.)

the only thing I noticed is that the response dialog options cover up the townspeople's dialog

good luck

Submitted

NatherSubmitted329 days ago

Awesome submission! Fit the theme perfectly, well executed, well polished, bravo. The way the darkness breathes and the heavy emotional music was what really brought that ominous fear out. I've gotta know what's in that mine.

Submitted

Bee's Bring Life

givenfleshSubmitted329 days ago(+1)

Very fascinating. The darkness was truly oppressive. I spent quite a lot of time checking if there were corners with hidden things. A little sad that it ended when it did. Definitely left me curious. about what was going on in the town.

Submitted

Antagonist Syndrome

wavefriendSubmitted329 days ago

Love the aesthetic but wasn't sure how to progress in the game. The only exit to the starting room was the path going south and when I walked that way my player was offscreen for a while until I somehow appeared in an Inn,

Submitted

Alex ☕🇨🇦Developer329 days ago(+1)

Thanks for giving it a go! That’s interesting that the screen didn’t move as you went down. I noticed that in some browsers (Firefox) the game frame rate was abysmal on embedded GPUs and at anything below 30 the camera movement became jank. On windows if the bottom of the game is cut off press f11 to go into full screen. Which should adjust to the size of your monitor.

b3agzSubmitted329 days ago

Amazing work with the art style and lighting effects. The music was on point for the aesthetic as well. Excellent entry.

Submitted

I Will Remember You

Dominion GamesSubmitted330 days ago(+1)

Hello, played your game for a few minutes. Loved the art, lighting, and music. I didn't have enough time to play the whole game, but i will most likely sink hours into it.

Submitted

Under the Plagued Night