itch.io

Đây có lẽ là một trong số ít những tựa game kinh dị trên itch.io do người Việt làm mà đạt chất lượng "tương đối hoàn thiện" như này, đồ hoạ game và cử động của các nhân vật rất đơn giản và còn cứng nhưng tạo ra được bầu không khí hoài niệm có phần kỳ dị, ghê rợn, như thể đang xem một bộ phim hoạt hình ko ai nhớ rõ tên của nó và tên nhà sản xuất được chiếu trên tv những năm đầu 2000-2010, khi mà công nghệ hoạt hình 3D và kinh phí thời ấy còn hạn chế. Cốt truyện của game cũng dễ hiểu và được diễn đạt khéo léo để làm ko làm mất đi tính tò mò của người chơi, song đó cũng là mặt yếu của game vì ko có nhiều tương tác giữa người chơi và môi trường, thiết kế nhân vật và môi trường trong game vừa đủ tối giản để ko tạo cảm giác quá trống trải nhưng lại hơi quá u tối và thậm chí tuyệt vọng, một số hiệu ứng âm thanh như tiếng bước chân lại hơi to với một đứa trẻ, và có lẽ là hơi lạm dụng jumpscare?

Về chủ quan thì đây vẫn là một sản phẩm khá độc đáo so với mặt bằng chung các game kinh dị Việt Nam và thậm chí game kinh dị quốc tế, về khách quan thì game kiểu này có thể sẽ khó tiếp cận với người chơi Việt Nam do thị hiếu ưa đồ hoạ đẹp, còn với người chơi quốc tế thì sẽ đòi hỏi phát triển gameplay và cốt truyện hơn, đặc biệt là ở các phần sau của game. Chúc nhà phát triển game có đủ nguồn vốn và tài lực để có thể tiếp tục "nuôi dưỡng" đứa con đầu lòng này và vươn xa trên thị trường quốc tế để sánh cùng với cường quốc năm châu, chứ đừng dựa hơi cái mác "Made in Vietnam" mà bao nhiêu nhà phát triển game độc lập ở VN khác đã sử dụng, để rồi nhanh chóng thoái trào, rơi vào dĩ vãng mà ko gây được tiếng vang dài lâu, hãy làm một tựa game bản thân muốn và chấp nhận cách người ta đón nhận nó, thay vì làm một tựa game với mong muốn được mọi người nâng lên chín tầng mây.

That part works fine now, thanks for the fix!

A few other things I forgot to mention, the atmosphere and soundtracks in this game are very good btw, love the indoor footstep noises, the Moonbills cafe vibes, definitely an improvement from Aquatic Grave (though Spider Lilies still stuck in my head sometimes, and duh the youtube video doesn't have it slowed like in that game). And tbf the *gore* kinda surprised me also (reader discretion ain't messing around). 

Also think I found a bug in chapter 3, I went home instead of finding a way to go in the alley, then I chose to go to Greenwood's house and was stuck in a black screen, I had no other choice but to reload a save, as I dug through the game's files (excuse me for that), I found out that there's a picture of Greenwood's house, is that supposed to be an accessible area or unused stuff? (I also found a cutscene art of Oliver looking up named untitled159 and I don't think I have seen it anywhere when playing).

One last question, as the game still has 2 more chapters in development, not all of the soundtracks are used right? Cuz I listened to the OST on youtube and heard a few songs that I hear nowhere in the game (like Smothered), or maybe it's just my goldfish memory forgor it already.

Looking back, this game is so fun and packed with details to talk about, but Imma stop for now to progress more stuffs in the game later I guess.

Hello and good evening! I immediately downloaded your game the moment I saw a notification on itch lol, there's so much in this game that it's amazing to see it was made in only 3 weeks, I didn't expect to see more of your art and stories this soon and it has been fun playing through the game!

Spoilers:

I was wondering if there's any phone number that you can use with the landline phone in the mother's bedroom? Or is it gonna be used in later chapters?

Even though there are 2 more chapters to expect, I think the player can quite guess that the mother has something to do with the murder case of the poor barista girl (and the case of Mrs. Barrette even), and considering the mother's behaviors towards Oliver, I may make a dumb conclusion here but she is obsessed with taking care of his son, right? God I hope that won't escalate into something more suggestive (or will it? But either way that's not a problem or anything).

And why are half of the characters in this game so thirsty bruh 😭 That Edward dude literally wants to get it on with a corpse, the 2 sisters blush when Oliver just simply takes out his trenchcoat and that one goon wants to dress Oliver up like a goth girl and sell him 😭 (but ngl Oliver has potential). I just expected everyone in the game to be mean and maybe crazy but they caught me off-guard every time lol, though I feel very bad for Mrs. Greenwood, she deserves better imo.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing the next chapters! I hope more people will play your game soon, especially Clock, hopefully he won't miss it this time lmao.

If this is your first game then I must say it's pretty good! The gameplay is satisfying and does provide some challenges in harder difficulties (I lost 4 times in the last difficulty lol), the artstyle is top notch and the game has great sound designs, if only there were different tracks for each mode instead of hearing the same theme looping the whole time, I kinda got confused/lazy with the synergies in late game, but it's still amazing after all, what's more important is no bugs or glitches whatsoever. I also made a playthrough video, hope more people will find your game soon, and hope you will make more games with this artstyle also.

NICE GAME YOU LUNATIC

Hi, sorry for the late response, here's a playthrough of the steam demo, I think most item animations and transition animations are bugged, some sound effects don't play as well, I hope this helps.

Really neat game! It's also quite challenging sometimes, I'm looking forward to playing the full release. Btw I tried out the steam demo and the item animations are bugged, it zoomed in and out everywhere, hope you can check that out (I played the web version in this video so everything works fine).

Alright, I've managed to get all endings, and so far the experience has been great! Love the artstyle, the changes in dialogues when interacting with objects everyday, the room layouts, effects and sfx, and the endings! The piano puzzle can be quite tricky tho, but I'm glad I figured it out with your help.

My only few criticism are that the artstyle is pretty goofy sometimes, the arms and hands from characters should be fixed a bit, Marissa's eyes are bigger than Cordelia? (though I totally understand if that's your own artistic decision) The music can be better also.

Overall, I think this is the best submission in RPG Maker Horror Game Jam #4 up to this point, and I also made a playthrough for your game, my viewers will love to try out your game! Keep up the good work.

(I actually did find the music sheet and I immediately knew it has something to do with getting an ending, but I swear the last time I studied piano was in elementary school and I forgot everything since then lol)

Spoilers

Hello, I've been trying to break the code for the piano! I don't know which note goes with which number, can you help plz? It's the last ending I'm trying to get!

If you're just like me who comes across this game after being unable to play other black cat game jams as developers trust the web version too much, this game right here is a must, it may not be the best but it's definitely worth a play.

This is probably the only black cat game jam that I enjoy playing in the past few days, as other devs who made their jams didn't submit any download file, their game jams work terribly in web version lol. Anyway, I think your game is cool, though it's short and lacks of music in some areas, it's decent enough, the story is simple and and very relatable (god I sure hate group project), but I guess I like the first half of the game more? Cat Heaven and ghost cats stuff, it's fun to read through all the dialogues from NPC cats. Overall, it's a good experience, that's why I decided to make a playthrough video for your game, keep up the good work!

This game is probably more complex and detailed than other games with this genre out there, NPC and main characters have different dialogue options, optional dialogues can affect endings, the story however is really simple and not as interesting, but after all it's a short game, and free, and runs smooth, and doesn't take much space, the vibe of the whole game is cool too. I believe once you come up with a good horror plot then you can make an even better horror game in the future, but this will obviously take time to nurture.

And I also made a playthrough for your game, my few complaints are that you should not enable 30fps limit by default, the car glitch can happen after a few playthrough, and the dirt road to town should be hinted through dialogues first as player can get confused and will spend unnecessary amount of time wandering around.

Besides the annoyance of being unable to tick the checklist box sometimes, I think you can expand this game further and make it into a very unique SCP game, this project is very promising, plz continue it if you can! I also made a short playthrough for your game.

Is there other endings in the game besides the ending which the player got killed by the demon for finishing the ritual? I feel like I'm missing other items that can help open a locked door or a computer (can't find any computer that is on power, is the passcode just a implication for something?)

Very fun game, I like that you even make different reload animations for when the gun still has ammo or empty, but I wish there was a way to change mouse sensitivity cuz in game it's so low that I have to twist my wrist aggressively to spin around, if you're planning to update the game then adding health bonus and slightly boost the tommy gun will be some good changes too, regardless of all that, still worth playing. I also made a short playthrough for your game!

does this have anything to do with SCP?

For some reason I struggled in normal mode more than hardcore mode, I literally beat hardcore in my first try, but regardless of that, pretty cool game, I wish the ending was more meaningful or something, made a gameplay video cuz this game is (not) such a stress-free experience.

Pretty fun game, but I'd advise using your own assets (or free to use assets) and make the images yourself instead of using AI generated images for some of the news threads in the game, but still a very fun experience. I also made  a playthrough

Nice demo, I wishlisted the game on Steam, hope that I'll be able to play your game when it's completed! I also made a playthrough vid

I don't know what you posted and deleted, but if you're feeling overwhelmed by the support which your game recently has, and feel obligated to make an update, DON'T RUSH, relax and take a break as long as you want, then return to game dev when you're mentally and physically prepared, you have the potential and skills, and we can all wait for your next project/update (however you call it), so take it easy.

On the other hand, it's alright if you can't continue the story for LUNA, this is your first game after all and perhaps it's better if this game stays simple and short the way it is, however, I'm sure that people will  want to see more official arts for Luna and Kylar from you, it'd be great if you feature them as NPC characters in your next game or something, but it's all your choice, so stay cool and don't rush art!

A little update, it's possible to appeal to the (false) copyright claim of this song and win over the copyright abuse (by simply just adding the name of the song and the author in the video's description), still it's annoying when something like this happens, make sure you always credit the musics used in your next games! And maybe put a warning about this issue when the player boots up the game for the first time or sth.

Hey, just passing by to tell you a small problem about a copyrighted song in your game, it's "Midnight Grooves" by Savaane, I guess you must have downloaded this song from Pixabay cuz many people did the same thing and got copyrighted even though this song is free to use, please avoid using Pixabay to find musics, you should always check out those "non copyright" songs on YouTube to see if they are copyrighted or not, for example, if a video has those songs playing and saying it's free to use, check the description to see if there is any YouTube automated format of the song like in this image, hope this helps with your game dev.

I progressed a little further and got to the part which I had to open a padlock, but the code didn't seem to work? Do I have to find another code somewhere besides the storage room?

What am I supposed to do when interacting with the window as a cat where a woman is taking a shower inside?

Amazing work! Love the sketchy look of the character sprites and the overall simplistic background art, the cutscene arts are good too, however I don't understand much of the story lmao.

Spoiler:

SO did Luna, Kylar or some random demon kill the staff members? Or it's just some sort of hallucination/flashback that Luna has when being in the bathroom?

And what did the Purple Demon do to be "dealt with" by the Chef? I thought that those characters would have impact on the endings or sth but turned out it didn't.

And one last thing, I'd be damned if this game, and you, the author, didn't take any inspiration from Nemlei, the person who made The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, just from the look of it, I could tell immediately, plz tell me I'm not wrong lol.

But anyhow, great first game! Though it could be better if this was made in RPG Maker? Cuz I can't find a way to play it at full screen, there's no save option, replaying the game from the start is not such a burden cuz the retail worker gameplay isn't that complicated and fun, looking forward to your next game!

I also made a playthrough btw, my viewers gonna love your game.

You can't move the dog around in game?

So I decided to make a gameplay video, definitely missing something like an ending or a piece of dialogues cuz I see a character sprite in the game's files that did not appear in my playthrough lol.

Anyway, on a serious note, the game is alright but it could be better by improving minor details, Grant's sprites is a little bland and less polished than other character's sprites like Max or Keichi imo, also I can see a few missing spots on Grant's sprites that need to be colored like his eyes, Ling's sprites should be re-adjusted to be larger than other character's sprites like Keichi's, the lady's sprite should also be re-designed cuz... It looks horrible tbh. The music is totally awesome, however I wished there were different soundtracks for both Ling and Grant, hearing the same soundtracks looping for 30 mins is quite tiring. Ultimately, the game being not completed is what makes me disappointed the most, but I understand if you and your dev team want to move on to make another game (and maybe a better game) instead of stucking with this title, so keep it up!

Thank you for the instructions! I will try to beat the game later, btw I forgot to mention that after playing the game for an hour or so, the game tended to freeze, when I quitted and restarted the game to play again, the freeze happened in 30 mins or so, hope this is useful for the game's development.

good lord I almost quitted at the first number puzzle (on the train), which I luckily solved after making some random guesses, then the second number puzzle (in the musical instruments store) really just made me want to give up tbh, I don't understand the hint at all, also the flower room is only supposed to kill Ling and no way out for her in that room? I really want to hear some explaination here (and help with the musical instrument puzzle too). Pretty alright game but I don't like the puzzle much, I hope to finish it tho.

Besides the same music and some sfx from Helltaker, this fangame is amazing, took me more than an hour to complete but absolutely worth it. It's strange to think about the main character having as little background stories as the Helltaker, but i guess it fits, that some people go in and out of hell for different reasons and their backgrounds don't mean much, it's what they do, it also doesn't hurt or interfere much with the main plot of Helltaker, this game can serve as a prequel to Examtaker even. Btw here's my playthrough, i hope more people will discover and play this small gem, it is as neat as Helltaker, and to think this is your first game is really impressive, keep it up!

I don't know if this's your first game but it's cool, though there is a few bugs and other annoying things: the doors keep slamming and pushing me away when i open it, some cutscene animation bug and a little discontent with how the killer works in this game, the gun should become a more powerful way to stop the killer for a few minutes instead of just running to the nearest cabin and get inside to despawn the killer, the axe should be used to break the door and destroy the plank instead of having to find a crowbar, also the safe vault puzzle should be more obvious like which key to turn left and right, but besides all of that, the game is playable and probably more decent than 90% percent itch.io games that people upload to this site everyday, you just need to make the gameplay better, more realistic and balance, you have potential for future games so keep it up!

Here's my playthrough video btw, you will see a bug i talk about at 18:14 (the video will not be at 1080p in a moment as i just uploaded it)

pretty cool, i like the atmosphere and graphics alot, but why does the main character picks up a his parent's head with little concerns tho lol

At first it was tough to identify the real threat, but i tried playing more seriously and got some fun. Here's my playthrough, it won't be public until the next 5hours due to some inconvenience, but still your game is alright.

If i have anything left to say, i'd wish you can add more stuffs to the game, maybe make a different game like this but with more action, and with better graphics i hope.

The lights didn't turn on when the monster walked in in that ending, this is the 2nd time i've got it. Also thanks for the info

Thanks, btw i just got the massacre ending again, but was it updated? Last time i got this ending the screen just turned black and changed to the broadcast message, this time i got a dopppelganger killing me for real, is there any other endings that got changed or it's all like this from the start?

I was getting used to the controls of the game, but welp seems like other people couldn't get used to that and made you change it, but that's just minor inconvenience, my first thought was you should let players look around by moving the mouse instead of using arrow keys or wasd. And i just played the updated version, seems to be better but still unluckily stuck at "no addition info" ending, guess i'll will have to let some monster in. But may i ask that is there more than one doppelganger that you can let them in or just one? I remember getting a 2 dead victims ending then got a massacre ending, that was in the previous version, also in the ending that has 2 dead victims, i stayed in the booth for longer than usual, no cars, no people showed up, then i decided to call the police and ended up getting that ending, probably a bug but real weird.

i managed to get 6 endings, will try to get the rest tomorrow, but i have a few comments about your game.

The almosphere is perhaps too dark combining with low poly graphics is just horrible, i can hardly see monsters limbs or hands especially the kind that let me know immediately which visitor is a doppelganger, which also forces me to 100% focus on the game cuz if i missed a brief second, i may end up letting one of those monsters into the camp. Sometimes visitors keep giving out the same answers 2 or 3 times even though they're not doppelganger, but it raises suspicion. Only be able to call the police once is kinda devastating as well, at least give the player 3 calls or something, but that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that after playing the game serveral times, i find myself keep achieving the "no addition info ending", even when i'm not playing seriously and just let people pass when they messed up some of the answers.

So i hope you can improve something from what i've experienced, cuz this game is quite decent to some extent.

So i made another video showcasing some of the bugs (and yet i forgot to include a bug that when you fail too many times the game stuck at loading screen) and some other cool things i found too. Very looking forward to playing the next update!