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Midnight Oil's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Category: Music | #1 | 4.909 | 4.909 |
| Category: Voice Acting | #3 | 4.727 | 4.727 |
| Overall | #15 | 4.659 | 4.659 |
| Category: Cinematography | #19 | 4.477 | 4.477 |
| Visuals | #21 | 4.773 | 4.773 |
| Story | #27 | 4.455 | 4.455 |
Ranked from 45 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Content Warnings
Midnight Oil follows the stories of marginalized rail workers in the early 20th century. Much of the story takes place with the characters playing a game to win back their lives, following a incidentally-depicted storm and train accident. No gore or violence is depicted on-screen, though injuries are discussed or implied. While there are no pejorative terms used in our script, the characters do have frank discussions of the difficulties of marginalized life at that time. This includes topics such as racially-driven policies and laws, slavery, loss of parents, loss of sovereignty, forced cultural assimilation, coerced labor, financial pressure, and blurred self-identity.
Log Line
I sold my soul to the company store, now the reaper wants it back . . .
Team Credits & Cast
Midnight Oil was developed by the FeatherBoy team & friends! Specifically, Benjamin Feinstein was the Project Head (+ sprites, some assets, backgrounds, writing, programming, sfx, and some etc.!), Fluffnight (Tammy) was project manager (+ Writer & Audio Assist), and Kiera Rhodes was the Voice & Casting Director + Manager. Other members of the crew include: Kamaleon70, Programmer | Eli Hersh, Writer and Editor | Fabrice Richaud / Nyx Musicae, Composer | Caleb Feinstein, Backgrounds and CG | Marcus Roman, Title Track Artist | Biz, Dialogue Editor | EdgesSystem, Editor The game's cast features: Shawn Cadieux, as Conall | Jahmal Wray, as James | Allain Armean, as Liam | Anna Gąsecka, as Steffie + Polish Translations | Jackson Zappa and Zoe D. Lee, as DEATH The title and end credits track of the game were written by Benjamin Feinstein and Marcus Roman, sung and performed by Marcus Roman, and produced by Will Gillman. Midnight Oil was created using TyranoBuilder. No AI was used in the creation of this project.
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Comments
This game is so beautiful! Such a nicely work ♥ I loved the concept!
I remember seeing this project during a team recruiting meet on the DevTalk discord and I knew I had to play it just for the idea of the artstyle being inspired by woodcut art (something I've started to learn how to make very recently, had a few small accidents but it's very fun). At this point, all I can say is: Absolute cinema. From the sound to the art, voice acting, everything, congratulations to the entire team! it's an amazing game.
Holy moly, what a game. I'd say it's underrated, but I'm glad it's getting the attention it deserves. Eveything was superbly done, from the art to the presentation and music, and ESPECIALLY the voice acting and story. Trying to figure out who death was impersonating was really fun, i was out there spamming the dialogue history button like the doakes meme, looking for any contradictions or out of character lines.
This could be its own steam release. Incredible work, will replay it!
Sometimes I see games that I cant believe were for a gamejam and this is one of them, very impressive
This 100% deserves all the praise it's getting, it was a great experience, with a perfect match of visuals, writing, and audio style. It really made me nervous to choose, I didn't want to get it wrong!
Fantastic presentation and the randomized culprit has really added wonderful replay value. I'm a big fan!
I looked forward to playing your entry ever since I heard your pitch for it during the meet and greet ^^
The art direction is so beyond cool (huge fan of woodblock prints in general 🙂↕️) and paired amazingly well with the voice acting and work done on the music/sound, I was very immersed
I had a great time looking at the results of your and your team's hard work :O, tysm for making this 🚂✨
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING WORK ON THIS. FROM THE ART DIRECTION TO THE GAME PLAY TO THE WAY THE ENDINGS PLAYED OUT.... THE OPENING WAS PHENOMENAL AND THIS WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Justice for Steffie (<- ref from MisterShins' stream)
That was AMAZING and it was such a surreal experience. Absolutely cinematic and peak and I have to go play every other ending now!!!
Ahhhh thank you so much!! It was great sharing the stream with you!!! It means so much hearing your compliments, especially from a team with such an impressive entry in their own right. Merry Spooktober!
FeatherBoy entry!! I was looking forward to this one ever since I saw the recruitment document!!!
I absolutely love the cinematography in this entry, super stylised and goodness the voice cast was superb! There's lot to say but I think the closest thing to my heart is the singing because I really love original music in games.
It's super fun to write some for my own game - Nova's Ship, but also to see it in other jam entries, so shout-out to Benjamin, Marcus and Will because it's not exactly the easiest thing to do in such a short amount of time!
Awesome work and I am, of course, looking forward to more of you and the team's work!
aaaaaaa thank you!!!! It really & truly means so much to hear it! The performers in this one really knocked it out of the park, it was such a joy working with everyone. Especially for more of a departure from our normal style. I'll absolutely be passing it along to the music crew too, they'll be thrilled to hear it 💖
I really really really love the music. This is probably my favorite entry in terms of music. It sets the tone perfectly. I normally don't like vocal barks but the way you did them was well fit in with the dialogue so I kept them on. I did have to start over since I was trapped in the setting screen, though. Maybe that's just the web build. Either way, great setting for a story.
The story is incredible, an impeccable project. But what catches my attention most is the art. It's very unique, distinctive. Completely authentic. You took the risk of breaking away from the ordinary and the repetitions of other novels.
I'm truly rooting for your victory. Whoever wins is the bold and the new. Beautiful, disruptive art. Always think differently!
This game was SO much fun! And your art and animation is so beautiful and stylized, I just love it!
What a great game! Loved the premise, artstyle, and dialogue. The voice acting was impressive, and the sound design made the whole playthrough immersive. Thanks for making this!
Hi, FeatherBoy team! I played and voted for your game on stream and I'm posting here for your own feedback and promotion. Would be happy if could rate and comment your thoughts on my game submitted to this jam! Enjoy and thanks for your consideration. - Kyle
Visuals of this game are fantastic and even your game page really sets the mood! The music and overall soundscape really enhance the spooky vibes and support the overall aesthetic really well.
The gameplay was interesting. Your team made a great game!
The art for this game is just fantastic, such a strong and distinct aesthetics. Combined this with such a great soundscape makes the everything blends together to make a unique atmosphere. I really like this game :>.
I do wish we have more equal story opportunity between characters maybe (since some lives get cut short quite fast). There were some small UI bugs but overall not a big deal.
Thank you so much - it means a lot! I definitely recommend giving the game another play, in that case - who's Death (along with a bunch of the matching clues and dialogue) is randomized each time, so each playthrough should give a different character a chance to shine.... (hopefully!)
We plan to iron out more of those UI bugs in future updates too!
Oh is that so, so I guess it's good then, as well as having cause for more playthroughs, maybe at the end screen you can tell the player that there are other possibilities so they can decide to start another playthrough
Great idea - definitely noted for next updates! At the moment we only mention it on the game page. Thanks for the feedback!!
This was such a well-put together game! The art style is really stark and really sells the tone, and your team did a great job at making the characters look so distinct with the style chosen. The sound design is brilliant too - all of the voice acting sounds perfect, and the music and sound effects couldn't have fitted more. Absolutely top-notch all around.
The only complaint I had is that the first time I played the game, I was able to deduce who Death was successfully, which made it feel a bit anticlimactic, but it's worth it to have had all of the characters survive! Oh, also, the interface for saving and loading doesn't work super well with the rest of the UI; it blends in with the background a bit too much.
Fantastic work overall; thanks for making such a great game!
Thank you so much for the feedback - it truly means a bunch! An alternate ending for if you guess correctly on the first try is definitely something one our to-do list for future updates.
Wowow this is too good! I love the visuals and the music, but the art is really stellar.
I really liked the pretty unique art direction with this country theme that feels refreshing, and you can even feel it in the voice acting, thanks for the experience.
I am in love with the art style and setting.
The black and white style perfectly fits the story. I love that your game is shining a light of the struggles and exploitation of 20 century rail workers.
The game of trying to figure the imposter worked well and the fact that I was able to do so shows how distinct and well written the characters are. The voice acting really helped to heave it on another level. The casting must have been quite complex. Everyone did a great job.
Thank you for making this game!