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The Break - A Game Of Mazes & Corporate Loops's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #883 | 3.571 | 3.571 |
| Enjoyment | #982 | 3.714 | 3.714 |
| Narrative | #1177 | 3.179 | 3.179 |
| Creativity | #2235 | 3.679 | 3.679 |
| Artwork | #3339 | 3.179 | 3.179 |
Ranked from 28 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The protagonist of The Break has been living in a "corporate loop" most of his life - his routine enforced by the robotic work and coworkers around him. One day, he's had enough. This is a game about "breaking the cycle" - breaking out of the routine, and finding freedom.
(Optional) Please credit all assets you've used
Almost everything in this game was created by me. Music and sound was an exception:
Background music: FASSounds on Pixabay
Sound FX: freesound_community on Pixabay
(Optional) What would you like to be called if GMTK features your game?
The Indie Diarist
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Comments
That was certainly an interesting take on the theme, but nonetheless it was very enjoyable and I can find myself playing it again and again to increase my score. Would love to see the game in a more complete format with harder and more challenging levels!
Thank you for trying it out friend, I absolutely LOVED Through the Edge! I'm definitely considering an expansion, will see where it gets me!
That was an awesome frantic experience, already made the plan of breaking out my coworkers from the office tomorrow, the art was so nice as well, simple but effective and cohesive. Thanks for trying out my game as well, really enjoyed watching you play it on stream!
Hahaha let me know how that plan goes, friend! Thank you for your kind words and for saying hi on stream sometimes <3 I realised something else about yesterday's "unintentionally public" stream but I'll tell you next time you're in chat!
Absolutely love this game. After watching you play it on stream, I had to give it a go and I'm glad I did. It's a very original idea, and I haven't seen anyone having this take on the loop theme. The game feels pretty smooth, the audio is great, and I love the camera movement, such as - the shaking, and the zooming. The only problems I have with this game are that the co-workers get stuck (Not sure if it's intentional, correct me if I'm wrong), anything that detects you takes a very long time to actually do so making them pretty redundant and I almost forgot they were there. The biggest problem for me though, was that there wasn't more levels because I definitely would've played them all. Very well done and I can't wait to see what other games you make in the future!
The visuals matching to the music's beat made this experience feel very special and polished. The pawn metaphor works well too, and the movement speed was perfect - felt heisty and stealthy at the same time!
Really fun game, the loop themeis there and the levels are great, it's good in every aspect !
Thanks so much for your comment friend! I can't see your submission linked in your comment, I'd love to try out your game 😱 did you go in with a team?
I didn't participate in this Game Jam, but I can link you the game that my team did, the game is Neightmare if you want !
Oh sure, I can check it out later! Thanks friend!
Fun game my friend, great choice for the background music haha. Had fun with the experience, great job!
Aw thank you so much friend! Glad you enjoyed it, I'll try your game on stream tomorrow and rate it!
Awesome game super creative; probably a metaphor. I really enjoyed playing this entry. Narrative was straight forward and just made sense. The music set a great pace for an office escape!
Thank you friend, really enjoyed your game too! Thanks for saying hi on stream <3
Great entry, very entertaining :)
The only thing that bugged me was that the coworkers kept getting stuck. IM TRYING TO FREE YOU GODDAMIT
HAHAHA totally agree and with a future build I will definitely fix that behaviour! I'm thinking a Snake-like follow pattern where coworkers just follow you in a simple line, following your movements with an offset. That should solve all navigation issues, HOPEFULLY!
pretty fun. I Loved the music playing in the background. Found this one a bit too easy though, are the walking ones suppose to stop us? Anyways rescued 21 coworker :D
Heyyyy you saved them all, well done! Yes, initially the walking ones collided with the player but that must have been disabled when I played around with collision masks lol. For the most part they're just walking around minding their own business though, it's the security guards on level 3 who are more annoying – but for a next build I'll make more complex paths for them too! Thanks so much for trying out my game, I'll try out yours tomorrow on stream as well <3
The background music really cheered me on! I managed to complete the game, but one employee got stuck and I couldnt save him! :( Really fun to play. I actually thought about a similar idea in the brainstorm phase! Loved it.
YAY well done for escaping the loop! Love that you had fun, and I think I know the coworker you're talking about. I discovered a hole in their navigation mesh yesterday! Poor guy stayed behind :(
Small, fun game to complete in a few minutes. One small thing you could have added is a number on how many workers there are in the level, now you kinda unsure if you collected them all
Really great suggestion, will definitely implement in a future build! Thanks so much for trying it out, friend, I'll try out your game as well (tomorrow on stream as promised)!
This was a good bit of fun, thanks for that
Thanks so much friend! <3 I'll try out your game tomorrow on stream as promised, can't wait!
Really enjoyable! Gets straight to the point and is a blast to play. Love the music and art style too. Good job!
The start of the music mixed with that camera bounce is sick.
I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off but when it finally worked it felt AMAZING! Thanks friend, loved your game so much - it was actually recommended by another jammer while I was on stream! <3
Thanks for playing!
I never knew I needed Abe's Odyssey crossed with Office Work and Chess but here we are! Haha
I love the concept, the setup, and the visuals although simple are handy in a maze game as my brain wasn't overwhelmed with detail. The music really tied it all together well.
I can imagine a full version of this with different floors, maybe switches to change paths to stop guards going some directions and stuff, there's like HUGE potential here.
My major gripe would be the controls. I do feel it would work much nicer with WASD or something rather than the mouse BUT that's just me, I could be the odd one here and everyone loves the controls haha.
Awesome job my friend! <3
SO glad you got the Abe's Odyssey reference, it kept being in the back of my mind while I made this!!
Originally I wanted the coworkers to have "roles" too - like software developers could help you break through doors in the path, for example. Obviously scope creep lol but your comment made me think about that idea again!
Maybe I can implement a double control scheme that you can toggle in the settings, so people who are more comfortable with WASD can use that instead. I have a lot of fun myself dragging the mouse around because the pawn goes so fast, but I was tempted to implement WASD pretty much all week.
Thanks so much for this awesome review and for all the suggestions, my friend! I will definitely expand this beyond the jam. <3
i love the vibes of this game!! all the coworkers being pawns is a nice detail, the art style and music all complement the game quite well making the whole escape feel thrilling :D
slight nitpick though i wasn't quite sure about how to deal with some obstacles at first though, like i thought the walking coworkers were enemies of some kind (managers??) or that you were meant to stand at a desk and pretend to work when in view of a CCTV XD
overall enjoyed the game a lot though!!
Awww thank you! Loved your game too! As soon as I found that music track I was like "YEP, THIS IS THE ONE", it's exactly the vibe I wanted!
Yeah, I got a few jumpscares due to the walking colleagues too, but I realised it too late to fix it T_T the idea to pretend to work is SO COOL though! I might implement it in a later build, I'm definitely not done with this little silly game!
Thanks for trying it out!!
Banger music.
Thank you! Sadly not mine, but totally agree, SO GOOD!
Nice little game. We've manged to escape the corporate loop. Coworkers sometimes get stuck on walls. Had fun.
Ohw thank you! Yes, the coworkers need some refinement for sure lol but so happy you had fun! Will definitely try your game!
Nice game. The take on the topic is a nice one. A lot of people can identify themselves with that loop. To me the figures look like pawns from a chess board which fit very well in that context. I enjoyed playing it. The playing with the mouse felt quite intuitive.
What can be improved in further development: Sometimes the saved coworkers got stuck and didn't follow me anymore. It didn't matter as for the "points" as they were counted as saved at the end of the level but if felt sort of sad having to leave them behind. Also, very sometimes the game was a bit laggy.
Please, rate also my teammate's first solo project "Eversands":
https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-2025/rate/3781063
Thank you for trying my little game, friend! And for your kind words on the theme, I'm so happy that people think it works.
Ah, those pesky coworkers, I spent so many hours trying to get them to behave lol
Agree they can be improved in future builds, I'd also like to add a time limit to complete the levels. And of course, I'll try every game I can before the voting ends, including yours!