This is not a good game. All of it was just you 'running' around the city in staircases and stuff. This is medicore game design, and should not be in a horror game. Not only that, but the story itself is missing. You might go, 'oh but you didn't finish it'. I don't need to finish the game if it takes like 10 minutes just to reach the end via a maze. This impacts the game servely so much that it doesn't compensate for the ending or whatever story is in this game. Looking at the comments, it's very apparent that you are hiding something well-written in this game (considering you had a decent introduction at the beginning of the game), in which I'd absolutely love to see. But put a 10 minute+ maze in it? Lowers my speculations. Trust me, I love well-written games (wonderful indie examples including Umfend, Lost In Vivo, IMSCARED, FAITH...), and love it when games attempt to deliver a written piece of game differently from other games, however you also have to ensure gameplay and fun factor is treated equally as writing/atmosphere. Unfortnately, this game falls in that line. That being said, with your ideas, if you were to balance gameplay, fun, themes, e.g., with your knowledge of writing, you could yourself create a great indie horror game. But for now, I cannot say this is a game worthy of playing.
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Hi n3dd. Thank you for your feedback. I actually really appreciate brutal honesty, even if I don't agree with it, so long as it's given in a respectful way.
First of all, I think it's totally unwarranted to say "this is not a good game". Obviously you're the minority. Nevertheless, let's talk about the points you brought up, because I think some unfair comparisons were drawn. Two Lines was made in ONE WEEK for a jam. Each game you listed as examples were not jam games, which means the creators could have taken weeks, months, or even years to make their games. So to pin my game up to theirs is like comparing a sketch to a painted portrait. There just isn't a fair comparison there. Have you ever made a game in a week? Have you ever made a game? Have you ever done it completely by yourself from the ground up without any outside assets or help? I could make assumptions, but I'll get to my point instead. If you knew the amount of work it took for me to create this 100% in a week, on top of working a full time job to support my stay-at-home wife and 7 month-old son, I would only hope you would have a different opinion of it. There are many things I would have loved to put into this game. But just to give you an idea, the majority of the map was created in the last day and a half of the jam, because I had spent most of that week creating all the models, textures, animations, music, sound effects, story, and then creating game mechanics so the game could actually be playable. This put me in a corner to crank out an environment, and put the story into the game. The story is the most important part of this game, and doing that part right was more important to me than making a "fun" horror game. Personally, I prefer horror games that terrify me and make me think, over horror games that are fun to play.
But let's talk about why this is a maze game, and more importantly, why people immediately write off maze games. People have been playing the same horror game for 20 years, because of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Now these are some of my all-time favorite, and most influential games. However, when you've literally spent 20 years reading notes, and hunting for keys, you tend to get bored of it. My goal for this game was to create an atmosphere, and then drop a horrible creature in it to chase you. Obviously anyone who still loves to read notes and unlock doors is going to complain and call this a maze game, because if you take away those elements, that's essentially all any horror game is. What people seem to have forgotten how to do is set aside their own script, and just enjoy a piece of art for what it is--what the creator intended for it to be--rather than trying to force it through the filter of all their expectations.
Ultimately, I didn't have time to make this game any better, and I plan to do a future update that will hopefully improve it, and make it feel less mazy. But the fact that it spent a week at #1 despite everything you didn't like about it, has to count for something. I'm certainly humbled by it.
If you can't finish a simple little 10 minute jam game, then I've done you a favor by taking more than that amount of time away from my own to type this up for you, rather than ignoring it like I could have done. I care about my games, and I care about the community who plays them. So it's worth it to me to talk to people who think I make bad games. I implore you to take into consideration the things that I've said (and hopefully with a new perspective on this game), and give it another shot. Or, you can watch someone else play it. Or you can do none of those things and continue believing whatever you want about my game, and I won't lose any sleep over it.
Lastly, I have a new game that I recently uploaded (another jam game), and it's almost completely linear, and very easy to beat. Perhaps you would actually enjoy that one, so if you're willing, give it a shot. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Hopefully you didn't take any of this as hostility, but as genuine discussion. Again, thank you for your feedback.
Hi, thank you for the response - it was clearly better than the response you've made to negative comments. I'll give my response now.
Regarding the first point you pointed out - I didn't mean to compare your games with the indie games I've mentioned (in fact I only mentioned those examples of games to point out some of the well-written games, that are popular, that I love), so I apologise if my comment made you believe I'm attacking you for thinking I'm critising your game for being lackluster or not matching the quality of other indie games - in fact, I've played some jam games previously (72 hours, a week, eg), and I pretty much enjoyed a majority of them. What I'm saying is that I'm not critising this game for not being the same as those indie game I mentioned. So again, sorry about that.
Secondly, I find the idea of taking a different approach to horror tropes interesting, how you added elements of a maze in a horror game to differentiate it from the usual horror elements in games. I can't say I'm with this - mazes are something I don't really enjoy if they aren't utilised properly (with due respect). The problem lies with how the maze and creature is used and utilised in the game - not what is in this game, so it is completely fine if a developer like you decide to put something like a maze like this, it's just it needs to feel 'right'. However, I understand that one, you had a short period of time to develop this (thus it's difficult to polish and etc.) and two, you've gone for a different artistic vision for your game, so for the sake of fairness, I won't comment anymore.
I'll attempt to replay your game again at some point, in a supposedly different perspective. And I'll certainly also attempt your other game. Thank you for your response, and I look forward seeing your future creations (I do not wish to reply again, with due respect).
I actually really appreciate your feedback, so you are welcome to comment on any of my games. You've been very respectful.
There's actually only one review on this page that I would consider truly negative, and it wasn't helpful in any way. I understand if someone doesn't think my game is good, but to give it a 1/10 is a blatant insult. You, rather than spitting on my hard work, actually gave a thoughtful response, with critical feedback. So thank you for that! Please feel free to do so with any of my games, and I will happily read it all.
To your original point, yes, I can make something much better than this, and I am. To be completely honest with you, I'm blown away that this game did as well as it did, but it is what it is. Be sure to watch for NEMESES, which is my big project that I've been working on for months. I'll warn you, it is a bit mazy, but hopefully in a more interesting, and more terrifying way. Keep an eye out for that one. Thanks again.