I enjoyed the game, but not for what it's trying to do. It uses horror tropes as-is without trying to subvert them, and thus is not even slightly scary (to me at least) but has managed to build an atmosphere that resembles what someone who actually gets put into the experience would find both intriguing and uncanny. It uses space very generously and seemingly intentionally - Your starting den is crowded and dense, forcing you to navigate to the next part without lingering, while only giving you space when the space introduces confusion as you soon find out that the entire area is an arena where something is not right. It has this appeal of a liminal space where you are aware that the place is built by real people to serve a purpose, but the place no longer has people in it and your loneliness from failing to be involved or engage in its purpose is shared by nothing but the darkness in the corner lurking harmlessly. That said, while the environment design was strong, boss fights are... Somewhat fun, but they do not feel challenging, and every one of the boss fights has you respawning immediately before the trigger, where as any other horror game would put more lag time forcing you to travel from the checkpoint to the trigger, giving you the walk of shame to add emotional weight to the fight. For example, the first chase with the wall spider would have worked without respawning on the door but all the way outside the cave, which would give the player an experience where they have to get in and suffer every time, adding weight that can be lifted off when they finally rid themselves of the challenge. But that's just how I like my games designed to be rewarding and if this was made for reputation since it's a title drop of a major game then yeah it does the job. Overall it's a simple story told in a simple way and the experience would have otherwise been lackluster if not for the use of good visuals and sound design. It's really good at not letting me feel like the game has been a linear experience even though that's what it was. It doesn't have a payoff and the only characters introduced (the developer, the protagonist) have so little buildup about them that for the game to end in an interaction between them (if it can even be called one, since it was a one-sided monologue) is almost comical and did make me laugh. I liked your other games. This one feels like an endeavor that didn't deliver (unless that wasn't the point), but I'm still looking forward to what you make next. Good luck ^^
Thanks for so much feedback!
This game was just a short game for an idea I had with a friend once.
It was meant to serve as a time killed until I started with After The Curtain Call Act 2! Either way, A Craft Of Mine become more popular that After The Curtain Call.
The end was meant to be comical, many people judged how it was a little underwelming, but After all there ain't no supernatural here, just a dude banning you xd, why would he do another thing?
This was also an experiment since most of my games have narrative purpose with "walking simulator" genre, but I wanted to try to add minigames to a game and check if it could still be scary, mostly for After The Curtain Call Act 2
Which, by the way, will have minigames, like chases for example. I plan to make it so you can't die, you just get transported forward through the story. I know that does not feel like losing, but the player dying would mean losing atmosphere, so instead if you lose a chase maybe you get knocked out and wake up in another place, while if you win you get access to more content.
I'm glad you liked the other aspects, tho, and happy that you enjoyed the rest of the games. The next thing I'm working on is, once again, the Act 2 of the other game, and as the game is inspired by Bendy and the Ink Machine and I recently got to play Dark Revival (I'm loving it!) I will change a bit of Act 1 as well, mostly on appearance.
Thanks again!!