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A jam submission

Who wants to be a Murderer?View game page

A psychological horror game set in a TV game show straight out of the 90s
Submitted by Coding4rtist (@coding4rtist) — 8 hours, 6 minutes before the deadline
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Who wants to be a Murderer?'s itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Overall#104.3984.398
Presentation#244.6674.667
Originality#284.5004.500
Gameplay#424.0284.028

Ranked from 36 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous.

  • Great visual style & aesthetic. Loved the minigames and premise, great job!

What do you like about your game?
The mood/atmosphere. It reminds me old 90s tv shows, but with an unsettling and macabre vibe, or should I say "aberrant"

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Comments

(+1)

REALLY ORIGINAL IDEA LIKED IT ALOT HAD FUN.
Developer(+1)

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

(+1)

This was a very interesting game. I loved the setting, the games with the trivia and the people you get to know when playing this game. I only got 2 out of the 4 endings, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time. The one thing I noticed, bug wise, was when I tried to speed run through, it would face the host with no light and no dialogue would pop up. Great job all around though!

Developer

Thank you so much! I've already fixed that issue and I'm waiting for the end of the voting period to release the update. Thank you nonetheless for the feedback!

Submitted(+1)

wow, what a charmingly disturbing world you've built, with a nice aesthetic to boot xd, this is amazing! this a very fun exaggerated setting that acts as a nice commentary on the dehumanization that takes place in a majority of reality TV shows like these (like a personal disconnect between contestant and host/showrunner, which leads to shows being comfortable with putting contestants in uncomfortable situations, whether it be verbally or physically induced) and also comments on the gradual and growing desensitization of media and its tackled subject matter purely by means of it being advertised as consumed entertainment. although again, the setting is an exaggerated version of this, this game captures that desperate pursuit of sensationalism found in today's media pretty well imo, where extremities go from being the demand to the norm and the audience becomes desensitized and normalized to the insane fictional productions that they consume. its fun to think about the world outside of this show. is the world just normalized to murder like this show or is the show the result of this world's bar for what is acceptable to broadcast? what are the other shows that air alongside this one like, and what of the shows before it? what led to this point? its all cool to think about and its because of the cool immersion and attention to detail you brought to this game, well done!

the aesthetics are also just phenomenal! everything from the models, the textures, the colors used, and the crt screen filters and effects, they all work so well together and feel full of intent, it looks so good! the auditory experience in this game is also so well done and impactful, with sfx matching the actions behind it well and the bgm really fitting that 90s tv show vibe! the writing feels very grounded, but grounded to the world their in, making it easier to immerse myself in the game and understand clearly the personalities of each character! lastly the interactive parts of the game are really fun and matches the game show vibes! the minigames tie well into the narrative and are pretty simple and easy to understand! there was one bug that occured on restarting the game, but that was already addressed in a previous comment so i will just leave it at that xd.

overall, such a cool game! saw that you were planning to expand the game, which i'm very excited about! maybe adding more parts in the game where you learn more about the contestants and maybe form more of a personal connection with them between breaks would allow for better contrast with the callous and indifferent nature of the game show! great work, good luck with development!

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much for playing the game and taking the time to write this comment. It was truly a pleasure to read through it all. I'm really glad to hear that I was able to convey my vision of aberration, where the real horror isn't lurking in paranormal phenomena or terrifying creatures, but right in the twisted depths of human nature. I had a lot of fun working on this game, which is why I'm eager to continue developing it further. Additionally, this was my first horror game and I'm fully aware there's room for improvement. I would like to expand the game's lore and as you mentioned, allowing the player to connect more deeply (and gradually) with the other participants, thereby making the moral choices throughout the game even more thought-provoking.

Submitted(+1)

Now that's brutal... good stuff.

Developer

Glad you enjoyed it!

(+2)

This is a really interesting and really fun game, but the bugs when starting a new run or even just playing normally became very obvious very quickly. the mouse frequently bugs, the dialogue box bugs, the lighting bugs, etc. When you spend more time restarting than playing it really of takes away from the experience & I wish the bugs were found and fixed before it was released.

Developer (1 edit)

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback and for reporting the bugs. I'm sorry to hear that you encountered so many issues. Could you provide more information about the bugs, especially regarding the mouse problem, as it's the first time I've heard about it. It seems like most people have only experienced the restart bug. Also, could you specify which platform you were playing on? Unfortunately, i made the game in less than 2 weeks for the jam and I didn't have enough time to thoroughly test the build on different PCs. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Submitted(+1)

Fantastic work!

Developer

Thank you!

(1 edit) (+1)

Fantastic style and look on this game. Really cool concept and good execution. Would love to see this premise extended out into a full length game with more time for tension building and more chances to try to sabotage other contestants. I could see that being a huge indie game on steam easily. Extend the cast out to about 10 characters, make each round longer and sprinkle hints of what the game is truly about for the first round or two before kicking into high gear. Would love to see this become a full release one day.  Easy 9/10, would be an even easier 10/10 if there was just slightly more time to let that tension build . Incredible job! 

Developer(+1)

Thanks a lot for the feedback and the kind words! I'm thrilled you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

This was way too much fun! Everything about this game fit perfectly with the 90s TV vibes you were looking for. The sound design were great (that music was really catchy and 90s imo), as was the art, and in particular the shader effects. The host’s excitement about what was going on certainly made the game offputting, as was the moment I realised the game knew what country I was in.

The minigames were fun to play, as was progressing further through the game with each attempt (although I’ve only done 2 of the 4 endings). I’m amazed you were able to do all of this in 2 weeks, because it’s a really impressive game. If I had seen this on Steam for $5 I probably would’ve bought it, because it looks that good from the get-go, so I think you did really really well.

Developer(+1)

Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun working on it, and considering all the positive feedback, I'm seriously thinking about continuing to work on it for a full release on Steam, with more content, characters and new minigames.

Submitted(+1)

Disclaimer: Basing this review largely on Insyms stream (dude probably played way more than I would have anyways (4 endings plus boundary breaks)

Very original concept, and something so darkly hilarious about flipping the switch on game shows, with saw-like horror. I like the varied gameplay within the game itself between the dialogue dynamic and the minigames, really well executed. The aesthetics fit so well, watching it on stream was as good if not better than fully developed, polished games. It really is a great game for streamers.

Congrats on the release, and the well-deserved attention!

Developer

Thanks for the detailed review and for your kind words! Glad you enjoyed the game. Also, I had a great time watching him play too

Submitted(+1)

Gorgeous game! I love it, beautiful presentation and twisted idea.

Developer

Thank you so much!

Submitted(+3)

0/20, don't dox me

Joking aside, really nice game, graphics, music, story, progression, atmosphere, it has so much
You can even learn a few things and skip the knife part if you're not good at it

20/20, dox me again

Developer(+5)

Haha, thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!


It was really fun watching you play

Submitted(+2)

This was wonderful! I absolutely loved the presentation and the different endings. Amazing job!

Developer

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Submitted(+1)

Love the aesthetics!

Developer(+1)

Thank you!

Submitted (1 edit) (+1)

Oh my this game has so much charm and character, I live for games like these. The visuals, audio and writing go together perfectly and I adored every second of it. Also the fact that you managed to do multiple endings in such a short jam is impressive. Real nice entry!

Developer

Wow, thank you so much for the glowing review! I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the game! It was definitely a challenge to pull off all this content in such a short amount of time. Thanks for playing and for the kind words!

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

Very stylish. Holy crap. I kinda got filtered by the knife game, and when you restart the game gets a little corrupted. Like, the first menu screen just says "Button Button Button Button" and when the host tries to start the game it softlocks. 

So, that's a little unfortunate. Otherwise I will probably start it up again later and see if I can actually beat this. 

Developer

Thanks for the feedback! It seems like this bug is occurring frequently when starting a new run. Just closing and reopening the game should fix the issue.

Submitted(+1)

This was incredible, a really fantastic looking game with an interesting premise and pretty well written, too!

Developer

Thank you so much! This was my first attempt with both the horror genre and a heavily narrative-based game, so that's so encouraging to hear!

Submitted(+1)

Very fun game, cool concept. 

The game's dialogue system was very finnicky on restarts, essentially requiring a full restart of the game any time I tried a new run or if something broke.

Besides that, easily the most original and aesthetic game I've played so far in the jam.

Developer

Thank you so much for the feedback and kind words. Unfortunately, with so much content in the game, I expected bugs like these. I'll definitely work on improving the game's stability in future updates.

Submitted(+1)

this is insanely good definitely one of the best games of the jam i love it

Developer

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the game

(+1)

The Host of the show is true impostor, psycho, and calmest character without regret in history of indie games

Developer (1 edit)

I'm really glad to hear you say that! That's exactly how I intended to portray him. Thanks for playing!