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A jam submission

RecurseView game page

Submitted by RandomByteFF, lelol30, Gilgames, CherrY4, Marcousse, Kristof-me, BarazEmmaa — 4 hours, 18 minutes before the deadline
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Recurse's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Graphics#674.0004.000
Audio#683.6673.667
Theme#1233.7413.741
Overall#1293.4633.463
Innovation#1553.2593.259
Game Design#1893.3333.333
Fun#3322.7782.778

Ranked from 27 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?
You solve puzzles by opening and closing doors. Doors can release effects which propagate to other rooms through open doors.

Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
No, we used unity as engine and free sound effects. All graphics and code were made by us.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

The mecanic is genius. I would require a better tutorialization, though, as I didn't undestand it at first, and had to read the game page. But it make interesting puzzle, is very original and fits the theme perfectly.

The art is great, one of the best looking among the games I rated. And the most complex by far. But it has readability issues, especialy the doors that are not visible enough. Also the chromatic aberation effect, while cool looking, hurts the readibility and is a bit headhache inducing after a while. Maybe tune it down.

Developer(+1)

Thank you :D As for the vertical doors yeah they weren't communicated well. Every time I watched someone play the game I had to tell them where the vertical doors were. Plus we didn't have time to communicate the fact that the pressure plates each activated their own sliding walls, and that there were two types of pressure plate. If we decide to continue working on this project we'll hammer out these things.

(+1)

SZUPERJO JATEK :) BRAĆA SRBIJI !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitted

Beautiful game! The door flowing effect is really nice!

Submitted

Nice graphics. The game was very good too.

Submitted(+1)

I really like the mechanic of closing doors to stop the effects from reaching rooms. Although it can be hard to find rooms with the artstyle. It would help a lot if side doors are more visible and if gaps in the wall were marked better. I found those 2 things blended in and were easy to miss.

Developer

Yeah the side doors were a problem for most people who played the game. It will definitely be changed if we continue working on it at some point. Also having some visual indication of a door being "selected" might help. Btw I ran into your game today while testing out other games and I couldn't get it to run. I'd love to try it out but everything happened with multiple seconds of delay :c

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Played it but couldn't get past Shine on Lunacy. Pretty neat design, audio, visuals and programming. Hats off to you guys!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Okay so I already commented below, but I didn't grasp all the genius of your game, so here is my real review! Thanks for helping me understand a bit better ^^.

First, my point about the graphics is still relevant. The game is beautiful, the little post-process effects adds an amazing touch, the pixel art is awesome, everything is clear. You guys did a great job ^^. The side doors are a bit hard to see, but once you get the hang of it, it's okay. And the see-through walls are a really nice touch! So, art team, GG, that was amazing =)!

The music is also very good, I especially like the music in the last level. It perfectly sets the mood for what is to come, that's just spot-on. The sound design is also nice, you implemented a lot of sounds to give the player audio cues about what is happening and good feedback from its actions. Audio team, GG, you rock!

Now the concept, holy shit, that is genius. At first, I was like "meh, a generic top-down where they visually replaced the buttons by doors, how lazy is that", but when I understood that you needed to close all doors, and so to keep track of what was behind the doors, that just felt amazing. As I mentionned, a little indicator or tutorial would have been nice, even just a simple 2-rooms level where you have to close the door to continue, just to introduce the mechanic, would have been perfect. But for a 7 days game jam, you gave us like 5-6 levels (I didn't count) of awesome and interesting puzzling, two cutscenes and even a F-ING BOSS FIGHT, so it would be really unfair from me to complain about the content (and about something that, in retrospect, made enough sense to find once you gave me a hint about your main game mechanic, so it perfectly fine). Game-design and level-design team, GG, you nailed it!

Opening/closing downwards doors feels a little bit odd, the hitbox seems to be higher than the visuals, but the rest of the controls are really good. I would have prefered if the little "E" indicator was here all the time, instead of just at the beginning, that would have helped ^^. The movement is precise and I didn't encounter any concerning bugs or whatsoever. It was a bit odd to be able to go through the decoration, but it's better than cluterring the rooms with useless obstacles, so it's fine. Coding team, GG you are awesome!

So, yeah... What can I say? I'm so glad I gave a second try to that game, because holy shit, I would have missed an awesome moment. You guys have absolutely nailed that theme, congratulations, you can be proud of you!

Developer(+4)

I'm gonna frame your comment and put it up my wall

Submitted

Amazing graphics! The game is really beautiful ^^. The hitboxes are a bit weird, but overall the controls and felling are nice, so great job on that ^^.

I've been stuck in the "tentacle" room for a while now... I thought about closing the doors, and based on the comments it seem to be the answer, but it doesn't seem to work for me ^^'? Am I doing something wrong?

Developer

By closing the doors (the ones which lead from room to room) you can lock out the effects. Try to lock out the effect which makes the tentacles appear from the first room (didn't have the time for a proper tutorial, the itch page gives a bit of info on the mechanics)

Submitted

OH MY, ok, you need to close ALL THE DOORS leading to the room you want the effect to stop, not only the adjacent one! I was closing the door at the left of the "tentacle room", thinking that would be enough, but the effect was going all the way down/left/up so I had to also lock that one ^^. That makes sense now that I nkow about it, but a little visual effect coming from the doors would probably have helped me understand ^^.

Now my understanding of your concept is waaaaaay better, and your game makes a lot more sense (and fits in the theme more than what I thought)! I'll try to reach the end and adjust my ratings accordingly, thank you for your help ;)

Developer

Ooooooh, a little effect would be nice, thanks for the idea. Good luck with the game, completing it is definetly a challange <3

Submitted (1 edit)

Cool concept and music. Once the tentacles appear I couldn't figure out what to do. Love the Lovecraftian theme. Also, not sure if anyone said something yet, but the interact button is F, not E.

Developer

Try closing the doors between the rooms ;)

Also, interract works for F and E as well

Submitted

Nice looking game. I couldn't get through the door in the first room. I tried hitting E at the cat and at the door but nothing happened. Am I missing something?

Developer

The only trick is that you have to be facing the door while opening it (I know, we should've added this to the tutorial xd)

Submitted

I tried facing the door, I tried adjusting incase I was to the left or right of the door. It wouldn't open. Is the trigger area small?

Developer

Around this height?

Submitted

There's a door there? It's not really clear in the visual design that there is one at that spot :(. I was trying the visible door at the top of the screen.

Developer

Ahhh makes sense now. Sadly some places the side doors are a bit hard to find

Submitted

Nice game! had a little bit of trouble finding the doors facing left/right, but figured it out! Couldnt progress throught level "back to back" i think is what it was called. Cool concept! great jam submission!

Developer

Try closing the doors which lead from room to room ;)

Submitted

The artwork for this game is fantastic! And the music and sfx were on point! Gameplay was very confusing until I managed to figure what I was doing, but after that this is just a really well made game, fun, and very visually pleasing!

did manage to clip through one of doors and get myself out of bounds on accident

Wallah the best game I've played this jam. The artists did an amazing job creating a lively environment. The puzzles are very creative and well done. They can be a bit too hard at times, but that just pushed me to think even more. Very well done. 

Submitted

This game was super pretty! Shout-out to the artist(s) for a visual feast! The characters, environments, and even the doors all flowed seamlessly together, and the colors were expertly balanced!

I had trouble at times with the 'E' key not being able to open or close doors, so I'm not sure if it was because I was standing in the wrong spot or there's something wrong with my keyboard.

Truly excellent work, everyone! Thanks so much for sharing!

Developer(+1)

It's a problem with the hitboxes, we know it's a bit janky, but didn't have time to fix it. Thanks for the kind words, it's a huge moral boost after a week of not sleeping <3

Submitted

I think that this is the best game i played till now in all the jams, such an unique style and graphics ^^

Submitted

nice graphics and audio got a little bit confused by the gameplay but got there in the end, i love the mechanics, overall very impressive that you were able to make all this in just a week

Submitted

nice graphics and audio got a little bit confused by the gameplay but got there in the end, i love the mechanics, overall very impressive that you were able to make all this in just a week

Submitted

The graphics are beautiful and great! 
The effects are varied and interesting!

Such a unique and well-rounded game! A dazzling display of the team's drive, work ethics and creativity. Truly a great game to be made in a week. I wonder how much more they could've given us with more time on their hands.