My game is set in a little forest and all the trees are generated on a grid, so that I can use the data structure for the enemy's pathfinding (it moves from tree to tree so it checks which tree around the current one is the best one to move to next), but the forest is circular and I also wanted to not have trees in some tiles to make it more organic… But for some reason my brain wasn't working properly and I didn't realise until after the jam that I could've just not generated those tree objects and nulled those indices in the grid data structure, but instead I just deactivated the objects, so they're still there, using up memory. x_x
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We totally had one of those moments too! Our code that parses the conversation file was expecting either no option, or the two options 'wait' or say 'say no'. (for context, those are two ways you interact with conversations in our game). Spent ages squashing bugs caused by accidentally putting in the wait option without a 'no'... and at the end of the jam we were like... wait, if the parser only picks up one option why don't we just uh... pick it?
Just finished playing your game! I quite enjoyed your take on that style of horror game, the feeling of some fae creature snatching my damn keys was unsettling. Can you actually reach them? I was listening to the sound of them jangling and creeping up in the dark, then sprinting full tilt to try and grab them during a lightning flash, and I swear I got to them...
Haha, ouch. I've had similar issues with branching dialogues in past jam games. Can get messy. Thanks for playing my game! I see yours has a Mac build so I'll put it on my list too—it looks like fun~ And yeah, you can get the thing, but like the intro dialogue says, the ghost keeps moving them when the player is keeping a safe distance, as an incentive to get you to keep taking risks by staying close to the ghost, but I admit it wasn't super clear. xp
Ah, that's what was happening! I got that she was moving them, but I was never quite certain of where she was (I did peek her running between trees a few times, but would lose sight of her between lightning strikes. Which was cool, but made following her basically impossible for me).
It's a really cool mechanic, I'd love to see you play with different ways to communicate it. The way I moved in your game was completely different to how I usually would in this style of horror game.
<Peer around, see nothing, run as fast as I can>
<See charm, run closeish to it, watch it from behind a tree at what I judged to be a safe distance>
<Creep forward in the dark toward the jangling, lightning strikes, sprint for the charm with metaphorical arms outstretched>
Maybe there needs to be a wide aura around the ghost (fog? visual distortions? skittering insects on the ground?) visible from quite a distance away, even when the ghost isn't. You know she's in there somewhere, but not where... And you know you can only grab the charm when you're in there with her...
Not sure whether that would work! But I definitely think it's worth exploring different ways of communicating the mechanic if you end up working on it post-jam; trying to get an object from a creature that doesn't want you to have it is a far more interesting horror experience than something chasing you and it would be cool to see what you can do with it!
Wow, thank you for that writeup!
Can't say for sure if it makes for a good game but here's how I intended it: the ghost does keep pursuing you so you don't really have to go looking for it, and the corners of the screen get tinted with a fuzzy vignette in the direction they are relative to you (but it's possible it's hard to see if you're playing the game in broad daylight or if you have some form of colour blindness—unfortunately I didn't have time to test for that) and the sound of laughter and swishing between the trees is three-dimensional too (headphones recommended!) so you don't really need to actually see the ghost itself. p:
Thanks a bunch for your feedback! I already have a big project I'm working on between jams so I won't be working more on this for now at least. Feel free to steal it if you liked it and think it can be improved upon and you're feeling particularly keen on doing the work, haha. 💃
Just played and rated your game too BTW. So good!!
I didn't pick up on the vignette actually! I feel like all of the FX would maybe need to pumped up a little in intensity to compensate for the lightning strikes, they're so disorienting! (Which is good, but it presents an interesting FX challenge for sure.)
Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it! (I did all the writing and some art, and yeah, it was a looooot of work).