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YAZJam 5: Is this for real? Am I dreaming? (Prize & Steam keys)

Hosted by The Icehouse, Yazorius · #YAZJam5
12
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A jam submission

Boklin - The island of the DeadView game page

Lowpoly 1st person adventure on a small island of Greek inspiration
Submitted by The Icehouse (@theicehouse_col) — 31 days, 5 hours before the deadline
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Boklin - The island of the Dead's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
General interest of the project/Intérêt général du projet#14.0414.667
Use and respect of the diversifier/Utilisation et respect du défi optionnel#14.3305.000
Atmosphere - finishing of the project/Ambiance – finition du projet#14.3305.000
Intuitive perception of the theme/Perception intuitive du thème#83.1753.667

Ranked from 3 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.

  • Boklin is the most effective way to show that it is possible to respect all the imperatives, even the most incompatible, to create a perfectly coherent work. Despite an integral minimalism (places, aesthetics, universe, ...), this game offers a rich and varied challenge, entertaining and original. Sometimes easy, sometimes much less so. Bravo, quite simply.
  • J'ai aimé le graphisme simpliste qui m'a fait pensé à The Witness. J'ai aimé la mécanique d'énigme des portes et des poteaux. J'apprécie le clin d'oeil à une œuvre existante.
  • I will be posting a comprehensive YouTube video of my multiple playthroughs and feedback soon. https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyBriggs

Diversifier/Défi optionnel
J'ai utilisé tous les diversifiers, ils sont assez visibles en jeu. Le nombre 5 dans les colonnes du temple. Le meme connu avec des cerveaux (modifié pour l'occasion). Le YAY! pour résoudre l'énigme des 4 portes. La base 3 pour les générateurs.

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Comments

NigeCSubmitted39 days ago(+1)

The scenes were so simple but worked well, it didn't need any more great atmosphere.
I haven't finished the game math is never my strong point and it all went whoosh over my head, even watching the streams I still doubt I'd get it by myself, watching Blacky figuring out was great to watch
Well done :)

Submitted
The Mighty Sloth
Reply
The IcehouseDeveloperSubmitted35 days ago

Thanks Nigec! I think the maths are easy even if you don't really like that, I didn't want to include anything difficult - it's more a matter of logic. Have you tried using the tips in the "mini guide" that I provided?

Reply
HexenwerkSubmitted41 days ago(+2)

Finally I started playing Boklin myself. This is such an atmospheric game. After all the time since you shared it and since i watched others playing the game, I finally noticed today that this island layout is actually inspired by that famous painting of the island of the dead. Oops. Beautiful! What an awesome idea to create a game based on this. I am amazed.

I guess you know that I personally have a rather hard time with this type of puzzles, but this is fine - it's just me. I enjoy the mood and atmosphere and your creative ideas here which is more than enough for me.

Congrats for finishing this in such a short amount of time. I am in awe.

Submitted
Jinx o'Clock
Reply
The IcehouseDeveloperSubmitted41 days ago (1 edit)

Thank you Hex! I replied with more details to your other comment (on the page of the game), but I'm really happy that you liked the setting and the use of the painting :)

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YazoriusJam HostSubmitted50 days ago(+2)

How can so much genius, original ideas, various puzzles, lowpoly 3D worlds and everything else this incredible game has to offer fit into 62 MB! o_o It's incomprehensible to see that. It reminds me of the endless games of the 90s on console cartridges that only took up a few KB. I would like to make the same menu, I would already have reached 60 MB. At this level, it is no longer Art, it is pure Magic! As for the game itself, it is a real feat. Fluid, beautiful, it offers a very pleasant moment of reflection with the pillars, but knows how to introduce this universe through a few more accessible puzzles. It would have been unfortunate to miss out on these ideas, and it is with pleasure that Simon leads the player into his irrefutable logic. Top! For that, just count to 3 ... 1, 2 , 10 ! o_o

Reply
The IcehouseDeveloperSubmitted50 days ago (3 edits)

Thanks Yaz! You're too kind :D
Regarding the size of the file, I do agree with you, it's incredible (I'm surprised myself). Unity is great for optimization (even if not perfect, real programmers still complain). I think it's been thought on purpose because of the compatibility of the engine with smartphones: these games have to be small and optimized.
Also, Boklin is small because there is no texture, no image, no video, on the contrary of some of my other games. Textures and images are what increase the size of the game most. You can see it with Catyph, 2GB of size! Here there's only polygons, colors, text and data. 

When you work with images, you need to optimize them a lot "for the web" (the photoshop feature is good for that). When you save a standard JPG, even with a low quality setting, it will still be bigger than a JPG "saved for web", in which everything is optimized (color palette, level of detail, etc). You have to use all the techniques that exist in order to optimize your games. Using PNG is usually not recommended if you want to lower the size of the game, unless you absolutely need transparency (which can also be avoided with some techniques: I saw it in the Mighty Slot game, he did like me in ASA using no transparency on some buttons/interactive objects that appear of disappear in a cropped area).
If your engine supports it, you can also use "newer" compressions such as webp for pictures and webm or ogg for video and audio, etc. It's always a sacrifice to do and a balance to find between the size of the project and the result in game... And it is way easier with full 3d and no texture than with prerenderend games!

Reply
The IcehouseDeveloperSubmitted52 days ago

This game is awesome! 5 stars!

Submitted
Francium 0 - Prologue
Reply
BlurredGamesSubmitted53 days ago(+1)

Making things short: I love it!

Knowing how this project came about and how long it took to develop it, it's a real pleasure to see it finished. Impressive.

The graphic style seems minimalist to me but perfect for this project that emphasizes the puzzles (a bit difficult for me, but I'm not very good with puzzles, hehe) and that are the great challenge of the game.

Great work, no doubt!

Submitted
PSYCHE
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The IcehouseDeveloperSubmitted52 days ago(+1)

Thanks Juanjo, you know that this game would have never come to life without you <3

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